1876 Indian Act introduced

Many Canadian laws affecting Aboriginal Peoples were combined to become the Indian Act. According to John A. McDonald (Canada’s First Prime Minister), the great aim of the legislation was “to do away with the tribal system and assimilate the Indian people in all respects with the other inhabitants of the Dominion as speedily as they are fit to change.” While the Indian Act has undergone numerous amendments since it was first passed in 1876, today it largely retains its original form.