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Allied Indian tribes of British Columbia : a study in pressure group behaviour Mitchell, Darcy Anne

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the organization and activities of the Allied Indian Tribes of British Columbia and to explore the reasons for which the organization failed to achieve a settlement of its claim to compensation for the loss of aboriginal rights in British Columbia. In preparing this thesis, I have drawn on several works dealing with the early history of the aboriginal rights campaign in British Columbia and the administration of Indian lands in the province. In addition, I have used material from the Provincial Archives of British Columbia and the Public Archives of Canada, as well as a report submitted by the Special Committee of the Senate and House of Commons appointed in 1927 to inquire into the claims of the Allied Tribes. The Allied Tribes was formed in 1916, following numerous unsuccessful attempts by individual Indian bands and small inter-tribal organizations to press the Provincial, Dominion and Imperial authorities to provide compensation for the loss of aboriginal rights to land and resources. The Allied Tribes attempted to marshall all the Indians of the province behind the aboriginal rights claim and to submit that claim for decision by the Judicial Committee of the British Privy Council. It failed in this attempt. Among the reasons for this failure were the Allied Tribes' weak organizational base and its inability to gain effective access to the higher levels of public decision-making. The Allied Tribes was, in addition, dominated by its white legal counsel and other non-Indian advisors, a situation which ultimately alienated much of the Indian membership and resulted in charges by government leaders that the aboriginal rights campaign was instigated by white agitators. Finally, the Allied Tribes insisted that it would accept a settlement of its specific grievances relating to lands, resources and socio-economic improvement only on the basis of recognition by government of the validity, of the claim to aboriginal rights. The Province consistently denied this claim, and the Dominion refused to jeopardize its relations with British Columbia by permitting a judicial adjudication of the claim which might have produced a decision in favour of the Indians.

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