Episode 3: An Act Never To Follow: Facing the Indian Act
Content Warning: This episode discusses the Indian Act and its ongoing impacts, including cultural erasure, family separation, and systemic discrimination. Some of the material may be difficult or triggering. We share these truths with care, knowing they are important to understanding and reconciliation. Please listen in a way that feels safe for you.
In this episode, we dig into one of the most damaging colonial tools in Canadian history: the Indian Act. Born out of control and oppression, it continues to shape Indigenous lives today. We explore its bans on ceremonies, the pass system that restricted movement, and the dehumanizing definitions of “Indian status.”
Drawing on Indigenous voices, Bob Joseph’s 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, and lived reflections, we ask: What is our responsibility as settlers and immigrants to understand this legislation and resist colonialism? How can we move beyond ignorance toward dismantling harmful systems, while supporting Indigenous sovereignty and cultural resurgence?
This episode is an invitation to face the truth, listen deeply, and recognize that reconciliation begins with education and everyday action.
Episode Sources
The Indian Act - Indigenous Foundations, UBC
Story 3 - Don’t Aboriginal peoples want equality? What is is that they want then? - University of British Columbia
Phil Fontaine’s Statement On Ending His Time As a National Chief - The Georgia Straight
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, Bob Joseph
Quiz Sources
It Only Takes 3.5% Of People To Change the World - BBC News
Backgrounder: United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - Justice, Government of Canada