1951 The Indian Act has been subject to numerous amendments and revisions throughout its history.

In 1951, some of the more oppressive sections of the Act were amended or removed. It was no longer illegal for Indians to practice cultural or religious ceremonies like potlatch; they were permitted to gamble, enter pool halls, and consume alcohol (through restrictions on the latter were enforced). They were also allowed to appear off reserve in ceremonial dress, to organize, and to hire legal counsel. Indian women were also given the right to vote in band councils.

However, not all the 1951 amendments were progressive. One such amendment was for compulsory enfranchisement of First Nations women who married non-status men: this caused them to lose their Indian status, and denying Indian status to their children. This was also the first time that the term “mentally incompetent Indian” appeared in the Act: “an Indian who, pursuant to the laws of the province in which he resides, has been found to be mentally defective or incompetent for the purposes of any laws of that province providing for the administration of estates of mentally defective or incompetent persons.”

-Caroline Lyster

• 1951-1981: Aboriginal Rights Movement. (n.d.). Canadian in the Making. Aboriginals: Treaties and Relations. Retrieved from http://www.canadiana.ca/citm/themes/aboriginals/aboriginals12_e.html.

• Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs. (1988). The Indian Act and What It Means. (N. Sandy, Trans.). Vancouver, BC: The Law Foundation of British Columbia. Retrieved from http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/files/PDF/TheIndianAct_WhatItMeans.pdf.

• Hanson, E. (n.d.). The Indian Act. Indigenous Foundations. Retrieved from http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/government-policy/the-indian-act.html?type=123&filename=The%20Indian%20Act.pdf.

• Indian Act. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Act.