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reserve
DCHP-2 (Jun 2016)
1n. — First Nations
an area of of land set aside by the government for the exclusive use of Aboriginal peoples.
Type: 5. Frequency — The term reserve refers to a parcel of land set aside by the federal government for the use of particular groups of Aboriginal peoples, known as bands, usually as part of treaty agreements. Some bands administer more than one reserve; sometimes more than one band shares a reserve. These pieces of land are often located in remote or isolated areas (see the 1999 quotation), although some have over time been incorporated into urban areas (e.g. Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver. Reserves are regulated by the Indian Act (see Indian Act); ownership of reserve land remains with the Crown (see Indigenous Foundations reference). Residence on a reserve is managed by band councils and the minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development and is generally reserved for band members and their families (see also status). The creation of the reserve system is rooted in the aims of French missionaries, who aimed to introduce Aboriginal peoples to a sedentary lifestyle (see Indigenous Foundations reference).
Although reserves are referred to as "physical and spiritual homelands", they were intended to permit colonial control and to free other lands for settlers. Although originally intended to facilitate assimilation into settler ways, the confinement of Aboriginal people to reserves actually served to preserve their culture and political cohesion; therefore, reserves act as primary sites of activism for matters such as land claim disputes (see Canadian Encyclopedia reference). Conditions on reserves are often poor, characterized by inferior government services, extreme poverty and insufficient housing (see the 2009 quotation).
The use of reserve to refer to 'an area of land set aside for the use of a specific indigenous group' is not exclusive to Canada, as it is also used in Australia, New Zealand and formerly South Africa (see OED-3, s.v. "reserve" (n)(5b)), as well as in the US. In the latter country, DAE (s.v. reserve (n.4)) dates back to 1805. Thus, reserve can likely be classified as a preservation from British English terminology in former colonies. The more common term in the US, however, is reservation (see reservation). Chart 1 shows that the term Indian reserve is most frequent in Canada, even when reserve is combined with Aboriginal (Chart 2).
See also COD-2, s.v. "reserve" (5), which is marked as used "in Canada", Gage-5, s.v. "reserve" (4), which is marked "Cdn.", ITP Nelson, s.v. "reserve" (7), which is marked "Canadian" and OED-3, s.v. "reserve" (n)(5b), which marks the term as "the usual term in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and formerly South Africa".
Although reserves are referred to as "physical and spiritual homelands", they were intended to permit colonial control and to free other lands for settlers. Although originally intended to facilitate assimilation into settler ways, the confinement of Aboriginal people to reserves actually served to preserve their culture and political cohesion; therefore, reserves act as primary sites of activism for matters such as land claim disputes (see Canadian Encyclopedia reference). Conditions on reserves are often poor, characterized by inferior government services, extreme poverty and insufficient housing (see the 2009 quotation).
The use of reserve to refer to 'an area of land set aside for the use of a specific indigenous group' is not exclusive to Canada, as it is also used in Australia, New Zealand and formerly South Africa (see OED-3, s.v. "reserve" (n)(5b)), as well as in the US. In the latter country, DAE (s.v. reserve (n.4)) dates back to 1805. Thus, reserve can likely be classified as a preservation from British English terminology in former colonies. The more common term in the US, however, is reservation (see reservation). Chart 1 shows that the term Indian reserve is most frequent in Canada, even when reserve is combined with Aboriginal (Chart 2).
See also COD-2, s.v. "reserve" (5), which is marked as used "in Canada", Gage-5, s.v. "reserve" (4), which is marked "Cdn.", ITP Nelson, s.v. "reserve" (7), which is marked "Canadian" and OED-3, s.v. "reserve" (n)(5b), which marks the term as "the usual term in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and formerly South Africa".
Quotations
1792
Every farm of good land, in that part of the Country, is comprehended within the Indian reserve.
1799
There is a fine limestone quarry . . . nearly in the centre of the Huron reserve.
1832
The Richibucto River is also well and thickly settled, to the head of the tide excepting in a large tract reserved for Indians, which reserve is a great drawback on the prosperity of the place.
1912
And the said Hayter Reed Esq. Indian Commissioner for himself saith:--
That the annexed Release or Surrender was asserted by a majority of the mail [sic] members of the said Band of Indians of the Blood Reserve of the full age of twenty-one years then present.
1926
Last summer a nice new house was built on the reserve for use of the teacher of the Indian day school.
1936
It had been the policy to establish a number of "home farms," in the close vicinity of the reserves, under the care of the Farm Instructors, which were to serve as models for the Indians.
1947
Only 63,238 Indians are receiving the treaty annuity but all other Indians, with this exception, are given the same services and benefits. By the treaties, groups of Indians ceded to the Crown all their title and interest in the lands over which they formerly roved and hunted, in exchange for the guarantee of residential reserves, education, annual cash payments, and other considerations.
1965
Even the word "reserve" is a bit touchy with the department [of Indian Affairs].
1976
In the celebrated 1967 Drybones case, which began before Morrow when an Indian was charged with drunkenness off a reserve, he ruled that the 1956 Bill of Rights took precedence over the Indian Act.
1979
Status Indians -- those designated under the Indian Act -- have reserves, medical care, hunting and fishing rights and recognition of treaty claims. Halfbreeds, more properly known as Metis, have no special rights or privileges, no formal recognition from anybody.
1988
Six years ago, the federal government announced it was prepared to correct the 1899 oversight and enter into an adhesion agreement under Treaty Eight with the McLeod Lake people which would allow them to build an economic base, partly by harvesting timber on about 20,235 hectares of treaty reserves.
1999
Or a game steak -- moose, elk or deer -- like so many on the street had known, growing up on distant reserves, in bush camps or resource towns.
2009
Many of the voters live off the reserve.
The surrender of St. Peters Reserve in 1907 was the subject of two royal commissions. They concluded the land transfer was illegal.
The relocation of the band to its current home in Peguis, 220 kilometres north of Winnipeg, has been called Canada's Trail of Tears, after the forced relocation of the Cherokee nation in the U.S. in the 1830s.
2009
These are unnecessary tragedies. We can solve the social problems by putting soldiers on positive projects like peacekeeping. And others correcting the gross inadequacies of basic infrastructure on First Nations reserves: building safe and energy efficient housing, correcting water contamination and helping to implement other needs identified by the communities.
2012
Tomson Highway's The Rez Sisters is a rowdy, earth tale of seven women in a fictional Cree-Ojibwa reserve. Sisters, half-sisters, sisters-in-law, they squabble like one big, unruly family. That is, until the shared goal of getting Toronto to partake in "The Biggest Bingo in the World" has them pulling together to raise the necessary travel money. One of the great plays of Canadian theatre, The Rez Sisters is an experience you don't want to miss!
2013
Ottawa is not doing nearly enough to deal with the staggering poverty and substance abuse on native reserves, Ontario Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Zimmer says.
His comment follows a declaration of emergency in Neskantaga First Nation in the wake of two suicides, making a total of seven deaths and 20 suicide attempts in the past year in the community of only 300.
2†n.
a tract of land set aside for a specific purpose by the government (historically Crown, Church and military) and now often environmental reserves.
Type: 2. Preservation — The term reserve is used to describe an area of land that is used for special purposes, such as preservation of wildlife or plants (see Gage-5, s.v. "reserve" (5)). Accordingly, OED-3 defines reserve as 'a location or area reserved for a particular purpose, esp. as the property or place of abode of a particular person or group of people, or in the interests of wildlife conservation' (s.v. "reserve" (n)(5b)). This particular meaning dates back to the 17th century, deeming its use in Canada a likely preservation from British English. Moreover, this particular meaning of reserve can be see as the basis for the development of its semantically narrowed form discussed in meaning 1.
Quotations
1797
Military reserve. The digging of Holes or Pits for loam on the common, is forbidden.
1799
The Townships . . . in the Western District of this Province, are to be sold in lots of three thousand Acres each, exclusive of the Crown and Clergy Reserves.
1815
I observe in your number of the 22nd of last month, you take notice of the Settlers on the Canal Reserve; which to a feeling mind is painful indeed, especially at this season of the year.
1820
. . . an English Episcopalian Church should be built . . . on a piece of ground called the School Reserve, on the Carrying Place, for the Townships of Ameliasburgh.
1828
Dr. Dunlop--Warden of the Forests of the Canada Company -- arrived in Bytown on the 18th and is busy disposing of the Crown Reserves in that vicinity. . . .
1831
We are told that the Clergy Reserves, are intended only to endow the clergy of the Established Church, and that no Presbyterians or other dissenters have anything to do with them. . . .
1836
He believed the Church of Scotland had ever as good a right to the Reserves as the Church of England.
1841
The land in the rear is chiefly ungranted, except that which is reserved for timberlands such as the great Prince William Reserve.
1853
Of Robert Adamson, Chairman, and John Irvine, Secretary, on behalf of a meeting of the Inhabitants of the Township of Lobo, County of Middlesex; praying that the Clergy Reserves may be secularized, the Rectories abolished, and the separate School system repealed.
1855
Clergy reserves are sold on ten years credit.
1870
Mr. Magill moved for a return of the amount accrued from the sale of Clergy Reserves in Upper Canada, &o. Carried.
1889
About midnight I stopped off at Banff Springs, where there is a Government reserve of ten miles by twenty-six, which is being converted into a national park and health resort.
1932
He bought a house at Niagara, situated on the military reserve, enlarged it, and obtained a lease of the land on which it stood.
1961
I was range-riding on the Buffalo Reserve at Wainwright on patrol with my favourite saddle horse "Frost".
1986
One of my favorite recipes is to take a stringer of two and three-pounders, an over-sized skillet and blazing fire, and a huge helping of blue sky.
My mouth still waters when I think of the shore lunches Ruby Polsky prepared during our fishing trip to the Dozois Reservoir in La Verendrye Reserve in northwestern Quebec.
1999
The plan states that all lands in the floodway must be kept as environmental reserve -- a designation that is not evident in the plan the city has sent Rocky View.
References
- Indigenous Foundations • "Reserves"
- COD-2
- DAE
- ITP Nelson
- Gage-5
Images
Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 18 Apr. 2016
