Land Grab Comics - Irony and Absurdity

Title: I.A. - Irony and Absurdity

The redesign of the Batman/Superman: Worlds Finest, Book 7, revisits the idea of the Indian Agent and a design where I got into exploring the initials I.A. in its title. The 1881 amendments to the Indian Act gave the Indian Agents broader powers, making them legal justices of the peace with the ability to enforce regulations. The amendment also made it illegal for First Nations peoples to sell their farmed wares to anybody.

It seems both ironic and absurd to have a government push a people towards a farming lifestyle but then to impose real obstacles against it economically. I can only speculate that the policy changes were selfish in nature and economically motivated.

Hayter Reed was deputy superintendent of Indian affairs from 1893-1897 and was a key figure in the hindering of Indigenous economic agricultural development. He enacted policy that would keep Indigenous farmers from being able to sell their produce, that restricted their use of modern farming equipment, and that helped implement the pass system—a project which never became law but was enforced by various law enforcement and Indian Agents when it suited them. Hayter Reed was a racist who helped set up and enforce policies of racism that would hinder Indigenous peoples decades after he was gone.

John A. MacDonald was one of our earliest prime ministers. He was also racist and helped enact policy that has affected and continues to affect Indigenous peoples to this day. His racist escapades are well documented and easily researched and sit in stark contrast to how this country has celebrated him.

John Pope was a minister of agriculture, a minister of railways and canals and was also involved in the forming and inception of Indian Act laws. A successful businessman by all rights in agriculture, mining, timber, and railways, it is difficult to imagine that this man was not swayed by these interests as he pursued helping John A. MacDonald develop the policies of the country of canada. Though historical records do not point out John Pope as an individual with a racialized agenda, I am including him as a figure of note in this art piece. These men, and likely many others, have remained unnamed and even celebrated by our historical record when they were responsible for the racist policies of the Indian Act. My question is “Why do we celebrate men whose racism was ruinous for indigenous peoples?”

The Indian Act still holds policy around agriculture as it relates to Indigenous people that is deeply controlling. Alongside these dated policies it even has a special section carved out for us mentally incompetent Indians.