Courting the First Nations Vote: Ontario’s Grand River Reserve and the Electoral Franchise Act of 1885
This article begins with an examination of the controversy caused in 1885 by the Macdonald government’s expansion of the dominion franchise to First Nations reserves in eastern Canada, a controversy that revolved around the liberal tenet that the right to vote should be intrinsically linked to indep...
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Language: | English |
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University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress)
2018
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/jcs.2017-0071.r1 https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/jcs.2017-0071.r1 |
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crunivtoronpr:10.3138/jcs.2017-0071.r1 2023-12-31T10:06:54+01:00 Courting the First Nations Vote: Ontario’s Grand River Reserve and the Electoral Franchise Act of 1885 Little, J.I. 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/jcs.2017-0071.r1 https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/jcs.2017-0071.r1 en eng University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) Journal of Canadian Studies volume 52, issue 2, page 538-569 ISSN 0021-9495 1911-0251 History Cultural Studies journal-article 2018 crunivtoronpr https://doi.org/10.3138/jcs.2017-0071.r1 2023-12-01T08:18:17Z This article begins with an examination of the controversy caused in 1885 by the Macdonald government’s expansion of the dominion franchise to First Nations reserves in eastern Canada, a controversy that revolved around the liberal tenet that the right to vote should be intrinsically linked to independent property ownership. It then discusses the role of the Grand River Six Nations and Mississaugas in the elections and by-elections that took place in the Ontario ridings of Brant South and Haldimand between 1886 and 1897, the year before the Laurier government abolished Macdonald’s Electoral Franchise Act, with the result that treaty status Indians would not regain the vote in national elections until 1960. The picture that emerges is of an Indigenous community torn between conflicting forces, with traditionalists opposing participation in Canada’s elections, reformers supporting the franchise as well as the Conservative Party, and a third group who argued that the Liberal Party was more sensitive than the Tories to First Nations demands for increased responsibility and autonomy. Article in Journal/Newspaper First Nations University of Toronto Press (U Toronto Press - via Crossref) Journal of Canadian Studies 52 2 538 569 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Toronto Press (U Toronto Press - via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crunivtoronpr |
language |
English |
topic |
History Cultural Studies |
spellingShingle |
History Cultural Studies Little, J.I. Courting the First Nations Vote: Ontario’s Grand River Reserve and the Electoral Franchise Act of 1885 |
topic_facet |
History Cultural Studies |
description |
This article begins with an examination of the controversy caused in 1885 by the Macdonald government’s expansion of the dominion franchise to First Nations reserves in eastern Canada, a controversy that revolved around the liberal tenet that the right to vote should be intrinsically linked to independent property ownership. It then discusses the role of the Grand River Six Nations and Mississaugas in the elections and by-elections that took place in the Ontario ridings of Brant South and Haldimand between 1886 and 1897, the year before the Laurier government abolished Macdonald’s Electoral Franchise Act, with the result that treaty status Indians would not regain the vote in national elections until 1960. The picture that emerges is of an Indigenous community torn between conflicting forces, with traditionalists opposing participation in Canada’s elections, reformers supporting the franchise as well as the Conservative Party, and a third group who argued that the Liberal Party was more sensitive than the Tories to First Nations demands for increased responsibility and autonomy. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Little, J.I. |
author_facet |
Little, J.I. |
author_sort |
Little, J.I. |
title |
Courting the First Nations Vote: Ontario’s Grand River Reserve and the Electoral Franchise Act of 1885 |
title_short |
Courting the First Nations Vote: Ontario’s Grand River Reserve and the Electoral Franchise Act of 1885 |
title_full |
Courting the First Nations Vote: Ontario’s Grand River Reserve and the Electoral Franchise Act of 1885 |
title_fullStr |
Courting the First Nations Vote: Ontario’s Grand River Reserve and the Electoral Franchise Act of 1885 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Courting the First Nations Vote: Ontario’s Grand River Reserve and the Electoral Franchise Act of 1885 |
title_sort |
courting the first nations vote: ontario’s grand river reserve and the electoral franchise act of 1885 |
publisher |
University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/jcs.2017-0071.r1 https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/jcs.2017-0071.r1 |
genre |
First Nations |
genre_facet |
First Nations |
op_source |
Journal of Canadian Studies volume 52, issue 2, page 538-569 ISSN 0021-9495 1911-0251 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3138/jcs.2017-0071.r1 |
container_title |
Journal of Canadian Studies |
container_volume |
52 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
538 |
op_container_end_page |
569 |
_version_ |
1786839086834647040 |