"...By 1885 Macdonald had accepted the reality of even his closest First Nations allies wishing to retain their Indian status. As he explained in the House of Commons on May 4, 1885, “They prefer to stick to the clan system, just as, until lately, in my own country, the Highlanders stuck to their clan system in the highland of Scotland. They desired not to be severed from their brethren.”
Macdonald’s outlook toward the First Nations was complex, and cannot be easily summarized. The contradictions of his policy included his ferocious repression of the Indigenous Peoples of the North West immediately after the unrest of 1885, while at the same time extending the federal franchise in central and eastern Canada to adult male status Indians who met the property requirement, without the loss of their Indian status..."
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