Indian Act (1895)

An 1894 amendment to section 117 of the Indian Act extended the powers held by “Indian agents," ex officio justices of the peace, allowing them to pursue offences against the Criminal Code as well as certain sections of the act. The following year saw the introduction of an amendment to section 114. Vigorously championed by the deputy superintendent general of Indian affairs, Hayter Reed, the reworded legislation now defined the rites of Indigenous festivals that were forbidden, which rendered it more difficult for participants to evade the law, and made engaging in these rites an indictable offence.