Indian Agent

From 1755 to 1830, an Indian agent was a representative of the British Indian Department in British North America. From the 1830s (beginning in what was then so-called "Lower Canada") until the 1960s, an Indian agent was the Canadian government's representative on First Nations reserves. The British involvement ended in 1860 when Indigenous affairs were whole Canadian responsibility. While Indian agents have received some scholarly attention, the role of the Indian agent in Canadian history has never been comprehensively documented, and today the position no longer exists. The position of Indian agent was established in the early 1870s. Indian agents were responsible for implementing government policy on reserves, enforcing and administering the provisions of the Indian Act, and managing t...