GO rD hIll 500 Years of Indigenous resistance4,000. Of the Cintas Largas, who had been attacked from the air
and driven into the mountains, possibly 500 had survived out
of 10,000... Some like the Tapaiunas—in this case from a gift of
sugar laced with arsenic—had disappeared altogether.^52All these atrocities were part of a “pacification” campaign aimed at elimi-
nating the Indians, who here too were seen as obstacles to “development”.
The government agencies responsible for “Indian affairs” were some of
the worst agents in this campaign, so much so that the poorly-named In-
dian Protection Service had to be disbanded and replaced by the National
Indian Foundation (FUNAI). Not surprisingly, the only real changes were
in the names. By 1970, plans for building an extensive road system for all
the industries that had recently invaded the Amazon were announced.
The following year, the president of FUNAI signed a decree which read
“Assistance to the Indian will be as complete as possible, but cannot ob-
struct national development nor block the various axes of penetration
into the Amazon region.”^53 The Trans-Amazonic road system resulted in
the forced relocation of some 25 Indian nations and thousands of deaths.
The struggle against the roads continues today.
Brazil is only one example; similar developments occurred in other
South American countries.
Seemingly in contrast to these extermination campaigns, Canada ap-
peared to be moving towards a much more “liberal” epoch; why, Natives
had even been given the “right” to vote, the pass laws had been scrapped,
and potlatches were once again permitted! In fact, the Indian Act itself was
being viewed by some as an impediment to the assimilation of Native peo-
ples. The combined effects of the Indian Act, the residential schools, etc. had
so debilitated Native peoples that they were almost no longer needed; once
powerful cultural bases, such as the potlatch, were reduced to near spectacles
for the enjoyment of Euro-Canadians similar to rodeo shows. By 1969, the
government went so far as to articulate its goals in the aptly-named “White
Paper”; the intent was to end the special legal and constitutional status of
Natives, and to deny the relevancy of treaty rights. Ostensibly a policy to
“help” the Indian, the paper even suggested a total revision of the Indian Act
and a gradual phasing out of the Department of Indian Affairs over a five
year period. In the denial of treaty rights and land claims, the paper stated,
- “The Politics of Genocide Against the Indians of Brazil”, Supysaua op. cit., pg. 35.
- Government of Canada, Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian
Policy, 1969, pg. 11.