BEST LEFT AS INDIANS
187
program of economic and social segregation seemed to have worked, more
important forces actually worked to keep natives and whites apart. Rather
than government encouragement, it was limited mining development, restricted
demographic pressure, a consistently strong fur market, and the natives' pre-
ference for harvesting over industrial work, that ensured that the Indians
remained as Indians. The government had, it seems, succeeded in spite of itself,
its programs of residential reserves and economic segregation serving more as
symbols than as effective policies. To a certain extent, then, government pro-
gramming for the Yukon natives seldom extended beyond an acceptance of
the status quo. Importantly, and only to the extent possible within its limited
mandate, the Department of Indian Affairs attempted to solidify and entrench
the Indians' position through government initiative.
Federal government programming for the Yukon Indians had strayed
significantly from the national imperatives delineated in the Indian Act. The
encouragement of self-sufficiency and the provision of protection from white
society are evident in the programs discussed above. The government, however,
shied away from a commitment to assimilation, which was allegedly the corner-
stone of national Indian policy. The ready acceptance of "best left as Indians"
from 1894 to 1950 stands in marked contrast to the cultural imperialism
typically associated with federal Indian policy. This contradiction may have
been inherent in the government's program, as the dedication to protection and
self-sufficiency almost by definition interfered with attempts at assimilation.
The guidelines in the Indian Act, however, also allowed for a certain flexibility,
permitting government agents both in the field and in Ottawa to adapt national
policy directives to local conditions. Given the limited development prospects
for the territory and substantial socio-cultural barriers (both native and white)
to Indian participation in the industrial economy, the government's acceptance
of the natives as hunters and trappers was no doubt the most logical, and cost-
effective, program. The administration of Indian affairs in the Yukon did not
focus exclusively on these larger policy directives; indeed, attempts at structur-
ing residential reserves and preserving native access to game evolved as ad hoc
responses to changing territorial conditions.
Government agents charged with supervising the Indians actually spend
most of their time and the majority of their fiscal allotments on more mundane
matters, especially on emergency relief and medical care for those who slipped
below the margins of subsistence or of basic good health. Federal involvement,
which fell outside the government's legal requirements, as the natives were not
covered by a treaty, centred on one simple principle. Leaving aside Frank
Oliver's comments that white expansion had been of unqualified benefit, the
bureaucracy acknowledged that the arrival of the whites had been at best a
mixed blessing. Through the introduction of new diseases and over-harvesting
of resources, the whites had inflicted an array of social and economic ills upon
the Indian population. Intervention in the areas of welfare and medical
assistance started with an unwritten but widely accepted commitment to com-
pensate those Indians displaced or injured by white advancement. It is at this
level that understanding of the administration of Indian Affairs in Canada is
188
KEN COATES
most deficient. In a recent study of the North, Peter Usher commented, "The
government had sought to remove any encumbrance to land title and settlement
and the police maintained law and order. Beyond these measures, however, the
government failed to detect any responsibility on its part for those people
over whose territories it had assumed control"42 (Usher, 1982:427). While
Usher's comment may apply to some northern districts, it is most certainly an
inadequate representation of conditions in the Yukon.
Government involvement with such Indian matters commenced with the
arrival of the North-West Mounted Police in 1894. Though Inspector
Constantine was enjoined from encouraging treaty negotiations, as the official
representative of the Department of Indian Affairs, he received authorization
to provide necessary medical and relief assistance. With the establishment of the
Yukon Territory as an administrative unit in 1898, many of the fiscal responsi-
bilities passed to the office of the Commissioner, although police officers in
the field continued to provide the actual aid. 38 Following repeated representa-
tions by the Anglican Church, the government finally relented from its de facto
policy and appointed a full-time Indian Agent. Long-time Yukon missionary
John Hawksley received the posting. Hawksley treated his new position as an
extension of his former duties, paying particular attention to the Indians' moral
state and medical condition. 39 Far from being an interventionist, the new
agent believed his greatest claim was that "The Indians feel they have a place to
go when they are in trouble where they can be advised and helped; they
appreciate it very much. "40 Following Hawksley's retirement in 1953, the
duties of the Indian Agent passed back to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Each year, one officer was delegated responsibility for territorial Indian matters,
in addition to other assigned duties. 41 Clearly, the limited priority given native
affairs had slipped even further. From 1914 to 1946, the office of the Indian
Agent served as little more than an administrative centre, dispensing relief,
organizing medical and educational programs and reporting regularly to the
Ottawa office. When R.J. Meek received an appointment as a full-time agent in
1946, the position took on greater importance, largely due to Meek's initiative
(McCandless, 1985). From Constantine to Meek, however, individuals respons-
ible for the administration of Indian Affairs found themselves preoccupied with
compensating the Indians for the ravages associated with white expansion.
Relief, or welfare, has long been the government program most readily
associated with Indians. A myth developed in the 1900-1950 period, and persists
today, concerning the natives' reaction to the availability of relief. The standard
account is that the Indians readily surrendered to the convenience of govern-
ment assistance, abandoning more rigourous pursuits in favour of supplication
at the Indian Agent's table. Those administering the relief program in the
territory almost universally shared this belief, and their attitudes played a major
role in shaping the program. As the Yukon experience demonstrates, that image
was a misleading portrayal of native interest in government handouts.
Federal authorities initially refused to accept any obligation for native
suffering, doggedly maintaining that the arrival of the white man had been of
considerable benefit to the Indians. 42 Faced with the potential starvation of a
small band of Indians at Moosehide in 1900, the government finally acted.