The Indian people of Canada are her fastest growing ethnic group. They are a people in cultural transition, adapting increasingly to the ways of the Canadian society as a whole; yet retaining elements of their traditional culture. There are over 2,200 Indian Reserves in Canada, varying in size and location. In the Greater Vancouver area there are five such Reserves. Their semi-rural development contrasts sharply with the highly urbanized adjacent non-Indian communities. To Indian people the reserve is more than just an area in which to locate a home. Its land is a unique and tangible heritage from the past, and it represents psychological as well as material security. Recent studies by anthropologists have shown that because of these implications, among others, the Indian Reserves will tend to remain part of the Canadian and American scene in the foreseeable future. The attitudes of Indian people seem to support this statement. However, living in the midst of an urban environment, the Indian people are entitled to, and beginning to demand, some of the benefits of urbanization. The accommodation of this demand, as well as the orderly disposition of land, requires land use planning. Planning is also essential to meet the requirements of surrounding municipalities, to whose development the Reserves often present an impediment. This thesis sets out to demonstrate the relevance of land use planning to Indian Reserves; the amount of interest taken in it, and the degree of planning already taking place on some Reserves. In the process of this study, a brief account is given of some of the distinctive qualities of the Indian society in transition. An examination is made of the special legal considerations that apply to Reserve lands. Maps and tables support the written material, and a glossary of special terms has been prepared. A major method used in this study was the interviewing of various people in regards to their attitudes towards land use planning for Indian Reservations; the extent of co-operation between Indian Band Councils and the Indian Affairs Branch of the Federal Department of Citizenship and Immigration, on one hand, and the planning agencies on the other, in regards to planning; and the amount and type of land use planning already taking place or being proposed for Reserves. In preparation for the interviews certain hypotheses were set up. On the basis of these, questionnaires were prepared for use in first interviews. The questionnaires were also useful in tabulating the information gained through interviewing. Interviews were held with several members of the Indian Affairs Branch; with Chiefs and Councillors of the five Indian Reserves in the Greater Vancouver area; with staffs from the Planning Agencies of the Municipalities which adjoin the Indian Reserves; with staff of the Lower Mainland Regional Planning Board and the Provincial Regional Planning Division. Several authorities on various aspects of Indian life were also interviewed. The information gained through the interviews is presented in tabulated form and its implication is discussed in the third chapter of the thesis. An analysis of the material obtained through this study suggests certain conclusions. The Indian Reserves are here to stay as far as can be foreseen. Those within a generally urban environment are undergoing a considerable degree of urbanization, and there is some tendency towards co-operation with Municipal Planning Departments. Land use planning on Reserves is taking place within a very limited scope. Consider able interest in broader applications of land use planning is shown, but at present there does not appear to be either sufficient understanding of planning or sufficient contact between Indian authorities and appropriate Planning Agencies. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The central problem addressed in this thesis was formulated in 1965 and 1966 during participation in a study of administrative and other problems relating to the Indians of Canada. As it is now generalized, it has become a problem of conceptualization posed by population aggregates within any larger polity. Most studies of contemporary Indians in Canada and the United States employ as a major model and unit of analysis concepts such as society and community, in which spatial and social boundaries are treated as coterminous. In the first chapter of this thesis, I have discussed the limitations of these concepts when they are applied to smaller population aggregates such as Indian bands or reserve populations. In the second chapter, I have constructed an alternative framework in which the conceptual distinction between people and systems of social relationship is made a central feature. In this model the unit of analysis is an aggregation of people either spatially or socially distinct, for which I have used the term population in an attempt to avoid the unwanted connotations of such terms as "community". The population is regarded not as having a social system in the way that societies and communities are conceived, but as being a nexus of many systems of social relationship, some of which may be contained within its boundaries and some extending far beyond them. The population is thus envisaged as the context or social field within which individuals act. The systems of social relationship intersecting in a population are conceived of as existing as models in the minds of the actors and the observer, with each actor holding at least two: an ideal model of his social context as he would like it to be, and a concrete model of how he believes it actually to be. Actors make choices of behaviour within the framework of constraints and incentives provided by these models, their situation, and the choices of others. In Chapters III, IV, and V, three Indian Reserve populations are described and discussed in terms of this conceptual scheme, using data I collected in 1965 and 1966. The potential of the scheme for explaining and interpreting behaviour and events is demonstrated in Chapter VI, where the position of the bands in the larger polity is analysed, and interaction between Indians and government personnel, the formation of reserve power groups, factionalism, and the quality of reserve life are discussed as further tests of the scheme's utility. In Chapter VII, it is concluded that in spite of differences in organization, location, cultural heritage, and economic activity, the three reserve populations have many features in common, and that these features may be accounted for in terms of the particular interconnections of systems that they represent. It is further concluded that the framework of concepts developed in Chapter II provides an improved model for the description, analysis, and comparison of aggregations of people that do not fit the standard definitions of community and society. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate