Aboriginal Studies, the Women & Gender Studies Institute, the Department of History and Anthropology (UTSG), and Historical and Cultural Studies (UTSC) present:
Professor Mary Jane McCallum, Professor of History at the University of Winnipeg
Indian Placement and Relocation: Post-War Indian Affairs Urban Employment Programming – The “Placement and Relocation Programme” of the Department of Indian Affairs, initiated in 1957, was the first federal policy aiming to relocate First Nations people to urban centres and organize placement in full time employment. The literature describing the program highlights the ways in which First Nations people were envisioned in Canada as remote, uneducated and a problem in modern Canadian society.
The goal of integration for social invisibility in the urban landscape was clear. While positive descriptions of the program and successful individuals who took part in it appeared regularly in Departmental publications and public documents, in reality, for those who did take part, only low-status and low-paying placements were offered. I will question some of the intentions and results of the program’s efforts to regulate and manage the movement of First Nations people in post-war Canada.
Reception to follow at Gallery Grill, Hart House from 4:00pm – 5:30pm (please RVSP to paula.hastings@utoronto.ca)
For further information please contact Paula Hastings: paula.hastings@utoronto.ca or Krista Maxwell: krista.maxwell@utoronto.ca
Women and Gender Studies Institute