G. Columbia to
Kimberley
[5330, CO 60/44, p. 326; registered 30 May
]
70 Upper Berkeley St.
London W.
27 May 1871
My Lord,
I have the honor to ask your kind attention to the subject of
the welfare of the Native Race of British Columbia, who number
some 50,000 and live in villages scattered throughout the Colony.
For some years the Church of England has carried on Missions
amongst them, expending annually about £2000, in four chief
centres in each of which two missionaries are at work. These
chief centres are
1. The Chymseans & Nishkahs
2. The Tahkahts
3. The Cowichans
4. The Fraser & Thompson River Tribes.
The first of these is supported by the Church Missionary Society, the three latter in part by that for the Propagation of
the Gospel.
The result of this work is that some 5000 natives are under
instruction and many more ask for teachers. Industrial
improvement is promoted—some 300 gardens are a witness to
considerable progress.
We have hitherto received no assistance from the Government,
upon which point I beg to quote the remarks of the Archdeacon of
Vancouver. He says in a letter to the New England Company
published in the Columbia Report for 1870 [newspaper clipping]
The Government of this colony has hitherto had no definite or
tangible policy with regard to the native Indian tribes. They
have preserved for them Crown lands, under the name of Indian
Reserves; they have prevented their land being encroached upon;
they have in existence a Liquor Law, with penal clauses
stringent and severe, but honoured more in the breach than in
observance. Beyond this they have done nothing, so far as I
know. There does not exist an Indian hospital in the colony to
ameliorate the evils which contact with a too advanced stage of
civilization has brought upon its unprepared victims. There may
be insuperable obstacles in the way of any definite policy of
preservation and development being adopted. I am bound to
suppose that such obstacles do exist; otherwise, such negligence
would make the very stones cry out for redress against the
wrongs of suffering humanity. Some such obstacles assuredly must
exist, otherwise what is known here would scarcely be credited
elsewhere. I have before me as I write the Colonial Estimate
for 1869. The estimated expenditure of the Government for that
year is £122,250, and in that amount this item occurs:
"Expenses connected with the Indian tribes, £100"—the Indians
in the colony being estimated by some at over 50,000, who pay
duty on every article that they consume, if it has been imported
into the colony. I do not wish to say more on this point,
neither have I said this by way of complaint; but I could
scarcely have said less to make the N.E.S. realize the fact that
little or nothing is done for the moral and social benefit of
the North American Indians on this coast, outside the circle of
efforts of the various religious Societies.
It has been computed that the Native Race contributes at least a
fourth of the Revenue of the Colony and it would appear to be
only just as well as politic that they should share with the
Europeans in the Educational Grant. It will be of advantage to
the Colony if, before the influx of Emigrants which is expected
in connection with the Pacific Railroad, the Indian tribes shall
have been trained in Christian principles and the arts of peace.
I would respectfully suggest that a grant be made for Indian
improvement and dispensed through Missionary Societies under a
Superintendent of Indian Affairs appointed by the Government. I
quote a precedent for this from the last annual Message of
President Grant delivered to Congress in December last: He
says [newspaper clipping]
Reform in the management of Indian affairs has received the
special attention of the Administration from its inauguration to
the present day. The experiment of making it a Missionary work
was tried with a few agencies given to the denomination of
Friends, and has been found to work most advantageously. All
agencies and superintendences
not so disposed of were given to officers of the army. The Act
of Congress reducing the army renders army officers ineligible
for civil positions. Indian agencies being civil offices, I determined
to give all the agencies to such religious denominations as had
heretofore established Missionaries among the Indians, and,
perhaps, to some other denominations who would undertake the
work on the same terms—i.e., as a Missionary work. The
Societies selected are allowed to name their own agents, subject
to the approval of the Executive, and are expected to watch over
them and aid them as Missionaries, to Christianize and civilize
the Indian, and to train him in the arts of peace. The
Government watches over the official acts of these agents, and
requires of them as strict an accountability as if they were
appointed in any other manner. I entertain the confident hope
that the policy now pursued will, in a few years, bring all
the Indians upon reservations, where they will live in houses,
have school-houses and churches, and will be pursuing peaceful
and self-sustaining avocations, and where they may be visited by
the law-abiding white man with the same impunity that he now
visits the civilized white settlements. I call your special
attention to the Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs
for full information on this subject.
I am sorry to say that without government assistance we shall be
compelled to break up some of our Mission work. Having been in
England some months incessantly labouring to obtain support, I
have only partially succeeded, and am about to return under the
painful necessity of contracting instead of enlarging, as I had
hoped, the important work of native improvements.
I have the honor to be My Lord
Your obedient servant
G. Columbia
The Rt Hble
The Earl of Kimberley
H.M. S. of State for the Colonies