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“This is the Whiteman’s Law”: Aboriginal resistance, bureaucratic change and the Census of Canada, 1830–2006

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Abstract

Census information of some form has been collected in Canada since the 1611 census of New France. Aboriginal people, identified or not, have been included in these enumerations. The collection of this information has had a profound impact on Aboriginal people and has been an element that has shaped their relationship with the dominant society. In response, Canadian Aboriginal people have often resisted and refused to co-operate with census takers and their masters. This article is an examination of this phenomenon focused on the censuses conducted in the post-Confederation period to the present. A census is made to collect information on populations and individuals that can then be used to configure and shape social and political relations between those being enumerated and the creators of the census. However, the human objects of the census are not just passive integers and they have resisted its creation in a number of ways, including being “missing” when the census is taken, refusing to answer the questions posed by enumerators or even driving them off Aboriginal territory. A census identifies elements of the social order and attempts to set them in their “proper” place and those who do not wish to be part of that order may refuse to take part. Archivists and historians must understand that the knowledge gained in a census is bound with the conditions of own creation. This has been noted by contemporary Aboriginal researchers who often state that the archival record of their people often distorts history and reflects the ideas and superficial observations of their Euro-Canadian creators. Changes to the Census of Canada since 1981, have increased the participation rate and therefore changed the nature of the record.

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Notes

  1. Neu and Therrien (2003, p. 44); taken from Great Britain, Government of (1845). Report on the Affairs of the Indians in Canada, Sections I and II. London: House of Commons.

  2. Library and Archives of Canada, Department of Indian Affairs (DIA), RG 10, Vol. 3161, File 365, 009-1, 2A, & 3. These files include correspondence between census officials and Indian agents bureaucrats from 1911–1930 concerning the RCMP and the census. See also Macleod, Roderick C. (1976). The NWMP and Law Enforcement, 1873–1905. Toronto: The University of Toronto Press, p. 34.

  3. Curtis (2001, pp. 303–304). See also the electronic version of the 1871 census. Statistics Canada. Censuses of Canada 1665–1871. Introduction. The Aboriginal Peoples (site consulted: 28th Feb. 2003) http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/98-187-XIE/aborig.htm An excellent article on how the United States Census has constructed racial categories such as these for their census is: Forbes, Jack (1990). Undercounting Native Americans: The 1980 Census and the Manipulation of Racial Identity in the United States. Wicazo Sa Review 6/1: 2–26.

  4. Report on the Fourth Census of Canada, 1901 (Ottawa: Census Office, printed 1902–1906, by S.E. Dawson) XV.

  5. Fourth Census [1901] of Canada, Vol. I Population (Ottawa: 1902), Introduction pp. VIII–XXIII.

  6. Fourth Census [1901] of Canada, Vol. I Population (Ottawa: 1902), Introduction p. XVIII.

  7. DIA, RG 10, Vol. 3161, File 365, 009-3. Indian Agent Archie Highfield to DIA Secretary A.F. MacKenzie, May 27th, 1931.

  8. Library and Archives of Canada, RG 10, Series C V 26a. Finding aid created by Bill Russell and Brian Hubner, 1994.

  9. Russell 2001, p. 27. Department of Indian Affairs Circular of May 1939.

  10. DIA, RG 10, Vol. 3161, File 365, 009-3. James Moses to DIA headquarters, Ottawa, May 27, 1931.

  11. DIA, RG 10, Vol. 3161, File 365, 009-3. DIA telegram, June 17, 1931.

  12. DIA, RG 10, Vol. 3161, File 365, 009-3. Correspondence of March 26th, 1932.

  13. DIA, RG 10, Vol. 3161, File 365, 009-3. Report of Crpl, Monroe to C in C “A” Div., Sept. 18th, 1931.

  14. “Living Landscapes”—Census of Canada database related to the Thompson/Okanagan area (Royal British Columbia Museum and Okanagan College, 2002) http://www.royal.okanagan.bc.census/omi1877.html

  15. DIA, RG 10, Vol. 3161, File 365, 009-3. E. Macphail (Chief, Div. Of Census and Vital Statistics, Wetsaskiwin, AB to D.C. Scott, Dep. Sup. Gen. Indian Affairs, Oct. 9th, 1931.

  16. DIA, RG 10, Vol. 3161, File 009-04. Report c. Aug. 1941.

  17. Statistics Canada, “Aboriginal Peoples, Recent Trends”, 2001 Census Consultation Guide (2001), p. 2.

  18. Statistics Canada, “Aboriginal Peoples, Recent Trends”, 2001 Census Consultation Guide (2001), p. 3.

  19. Downey, Geoffry (1998). Counting aboriginals is fraught with problems. Capitalnews online-report of Jan. 26/98, p. 1 http://www.carelton.ca/jmc/cnews/26011998/story3.html

  20. The number of communities who refused the enumerators was reported as 30 in Jebamani et al. 2005.

  21. “Incompletely Enumerated Reserves and Indian Settlements”, No. 7, Statistics Canada, “Special Notes” (1996 Census): 2–3.

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  1. Archives & Special Collections, E. Dafoe Library, University of Manitoba, 25 Chancellor’s Circle, R3T 2N2, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

    Brian Edward Hubner

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  1. Brian Edward Hubner
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Correspondence to Brian Edward Hubner.

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Hubner, B.E. “This is the Whiteman’s Law”: Aboriginal resistance, bureaucratic change and the Census of Canada, 1830–2006. Arch Sci 7, 195–206 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-007-9044-8

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