Indian Agent is the title of a position in Canada mandated by the Indian Act of that country. An Indian Agent was the chief administrator for Indian affairs in their respective districts, although the title now is largely in disuse in preference to Government Agent. The powers of the Indian Agent held sway over the lives of all First Nations people in their jurisdictions. Both Indian Act and Government Agent duties were fused in the original colonial title of Gold Commissioner, which encompassed both agencies as well as the duties of magistrate, policeman, coroner and surveyor.
This title was also used in the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries for individuals authorized to interact with Native American tribes on behalf of the U.S. government; see Indian agent.
Famous quotes containing the words indian and/or agent:
“This Indian camp was a slight, patched-up affair, which had stood there several weeks, built shed-fashion, open to the fire on the west.... Altogether it was about as savage a sight as was ever witnessed, and I was carried back at once three hundred years.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The agent never receipts his bill, puts his hat on and bows himself out. He stays around forever, not only for as long as you can write anything that anyone will buy, but as long as anyone will buy any portion of any right to anything that you ever did write. He just takes ten per cent of your life.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)