are nomadic, coastal dwellers and obtain much of their food
and clothing from the sea. One group is located on
Coronation Gulf, around the mouth of the Coppermine
River. Another group lives in and about the Mackenzie
Delta, from Arctic Red River and Aklavik westward
along the Arctic Coast as far as Herschel Island.

While a good deal has been written, largely from an
anthropological view-point, on the aboriginal inhabitants—
Indians and Eskimos—their status as Canadians, their
social situation, and the part they play in the economic
life of Canada has not been widely appreciated.

The affairs of the Indians are’ administered by the
Indian Affairs Branch of the Department of Mines and
Resources, whose functions include control of Indian
education, the administration of lands allocated to them,
the development of agricultural and other pursuits among
them, and the general supervision of their welfare.

The similar administrative care of the Eskimos devolves
upon the Northwest Territories Administration of the same
Department, whose prime functions are the establishment
and maintenance of game preserves and reindeer herds and
the conservation of the natural resources on which the
Eskimos depend for subsistence.

Medical care and hospitalization of both the Indians
and the Eskimos are under the Department of National
Health and Welfare.

The rapid penetration of the Canadian hinterland,
the aboriginal domain, by economic agencies made it neces-
Saty to move to protect recognized moral claims of the
Indians, and treaties were made under which the Indians
ceded their aboriginal title and interest in the country to
the Crown, in respect of which the Crown reserved to the
Indians extensive lands, made cash grants, provided per
capita annuities and other substantial assistance, and
made provision also for the education of Indian families
and the safeguarding of their interests generally. Not all
have been brought under treaty, but the welfare and
safeguarding of all is a recognized function of government.

Treaty Indians are thus regarded as wards of the State.
However, the Indian Act provides for their enfranchise-
ment to the status of full citizenship, on the attainment of
which they lose, however, the annuities and speci
tection provided by the Indian Act.

The administration of the complicated and difficult
detail of Indian affairs is carried out by local agencies of
the department located at strategic points throughout the
territory. Contact with the Eskimos is maintained through
Permanent stations, at some of which medical officers are
stationed; by patrols of the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police; by radio communication, and by motor vessel patrol

al pro-

In the conduct of these administrative and welfare
functions, advantage has been taken of the co-operation and
assistance of the Hudson’s Bay Company, whose activities

and influence extend throughout most of the North Pacific
Region.

3681—2

a

In the Mackenzie District, education has been largely a
function of the Anglican and Roman Catholic missions,
whose schools and hospitals are subsidized by the Govern-
ment. These schools, from their nature, vary in their
curricula and in the emphasis placed on particular lines of
instruction. Native pupils are taught English and, in
the Roman Catholic schools, French is also taught. Pupils
are taught to read and write and are given instruction in
elementary arithmetic and other junior grade subjects.
Training in manual and domestic arts, while the aim is
practical, tends to develop skills, tastes, and ambitions
more adapted to the white man’s way of life than to the
development and preservation of native culture. Long
separation from the family life has its effect, and too fre-
quently the result is an ambition to adopt the white man’s
manners and customs, impossible to preserve in the con-
ditions obtaining in the native communities and which
can only lead to frustrations and reversions, the result of
which, culturally, is a loss of the dignity of race and the
mative pride on which the preservation of these human
values so vitally depends.

The educational system in the northern territories that

“are under Dominion administration is being reviewed with

a view to the establishment of suitable, specially equipped
schools under direct Government control with a curriculum
better suited to the practical needs of the native population.
This plan is primarily directed to the preservation and
development of the native culture to the end that these
Canadians of the Northland, proud of their race and ancestry,
no longer wards of the State, may become upstanding citizens
of the Dominion of Canada.

Physically, no less than culturally, much damage has
been done. Association with the white man and departure
from the ways of their fathers have left the native people
open to the attacks of disease—notably tuberculosis.
There are still too few doctors. Too frequently the only
sources of help are the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
or the missions, who give what assistance they can. On
the other hand, there are more hospital beds than the
total native population would normally require, but they
are concentrated at a few points. In the far outposts,
medical assistance can only be obtained through long air
flights.

The establishment of reindeer herds and game preserves
for the support of the population dependent for their
existence on these sources of food has been literally a
lifesaver. So successful has been the reindeer project
that it has even been suggested by some people that com-
mercial development of reindeer herds might be undertaken.
The statement has been made that the sub-Arctic prairies
will carry settlement as far as grass grows; that domestic
cattle, if sheltered through the coldest weather and pro-
tected from flies, will thrive in these grazing lands. The
Dominion of Canada offers elsewhere many millions of
acres of greater promise for grazing animal herds than these
hinterlands. Every effort is being made to utilize the

117}