APPENDIX E

Annuity language in the Indian Act, 1876 and 1985

 

Indian Act of 1876:

 

3.1. The term “band” means any tribe, band or body of Indians who own or are interested in a reserve or in Indian lands in common, of which the legal title is vested in the Crown, or who share alike in the distribution of any annuities or interest moneys for which the Government of Canada is responsible…

 

3.3(c) Provided that any Indian woman marrying any other than an Indian or a non-treaty Indian shall cease to be an Indian in any respect within the meaning of this Act, except that she shall be entitled to share equally with the members of the band to which she formerly belonged, in the annual or semi-annual distribution of their annuities, interest moneys and rents; but this income may be commuted to her at any time at ten years’ purchase with the consent of the band.

 

69. No presents given to Indians or non-treaty Indians, nor any property purchased, or acquired with or by means of any annuities granted to Indians or any part thereof or otherwise howsoever, and in the possession of any band of such Indians or of any Indian of any band or irregular band, shall be liable to be taken, seized or distrained for any debt, matter or cause whatsoever.

 

71. Any Indian convicted of any crime punishable by imprisonment in any penitentiary or other place of confinement, shall, during such imprisonment, be excluded from participating in the annuities, interest money, or rents payable to the band of which he or she is a member; and whenever any Indian shall be convicted of any crime punishable by imprisonment in a penitentiary or other place of confinement, the legal costs incurred in procuring such conviction, and in carrying out the various sentences recorded, may be defrayed by the Superintendent-General, and paid out of any annuity or interest coming to such Indian, or to the band, as the case may be.

 

72. The Superintendent-General shall have power to stop the payment of the annuity and interest money of any Indian who may be proved, to the satisfaction of the Superintendent General, to have been guilty of deserting his or her family, and the said Superintendent-General may apply the same towards the support of any family, woman or child so deserted; also to stop the payment of the annuity and interest money of any woman having no children, who deserts her husband and lives immorally with another man.

 

88. …[The Indian Act] shall cease to apply to any Indian, or to the wife or minor unmarried children of any Indian as aforesaid, so declared to be enfranchised, who shall no longer be deemed Indians within the meaning of the laws relating to Indians, except in so far as their right to participate in the annuities and interest moneys, and rents and councils of the band of Indians to which they belonged is concerned…

 

92. Any Indian, not a member of the band, or any non-treaty Indian who, with the consent of the band and the approval of the Superintendent-General, has been permitted to reside upon the reserve, or obtain a location thereon, may, on being assigned a suitable allotment of land by the band for enfranchisement, become enfranchised on the same terms and conditions as a member of the band ; and such enfranchisement shall confer upon such Indian the same legal rights and privileges, and make such Indian subject to such disabilities and liabilities as affect Her Majesty’s other subjects; but such enfranchisement shall not confer upon such Indian any right to participate in the annuities, interest moneys, rents and councils of the band.

 

93. Whenever any band of Indians, at a council summoned for the purpose according to their rules, and held in the presence of the Superintendent-General or of an agent duly authorized by him to attend such council, decides to allow every member of the band who chooses, and who may be found qualified, to become enfranchised, and to receive his or her share of the principal moneys of the band…by his or her exemplary good conduct and management of property, proves that he or she is qualified to receive his or her share of such moneys, the Governor may, on the report of the Superintendent-General to that effect, order that the said Indian be paid his or her share of the capital funds at the credit of the band, or his or her share of the principal of the annuities of the band, estimated as yielding five percent.

 

Indian Act of 1985:

 

15. (5) Where, prior to September 4, 1951, any woman became entitled, under section 14 of the Indian Act, chapter 98 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1927, or any prior provisions to the like effect, to share in the distribution of annuities, interest moneys or rents, the Minister may, in lieu thereof, pay to that woman out of the moneys of the band an amount equal to ten times the average annual amounts of the payments made to her during the ten years last preceding or, if they were paid for less than ten years, during the years they were paid.

 

68. Where the Minister is satisfied that an Indian

(a) has deserted his spouse or common-law partner or family without sufficient cause,

(b) has conducted himself in such a manner as to justify the refusal of his spouse or common-law partner or family to live with him, or

(c) has been separated by imprisonment from his spouse or common-law partner and family,

 

the Minister may order that payments of any annuity or interest money to which that Indian is entitled shall be applied to the support of the spouse or common-law partner or family or both the spouse or common-law partner and family of that Indian.

 

Treaty Money

 

72. Moneys that are payable to Indians or to Indian bands under a treaty between Her Majesty and a band and for the payment of which the Government of Canada is responsible may be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.