Canadian Association in Support of Native Peoples

The Canadian Association in Support of Native Peoples is an association of natives and non-natives in support of natives. It was originally established in 1957 under the name of the National Commission on the Indian Canadian and was a non-native organization created to study the "Indian problem". The first chairman of the Commission was Mrs. W.H. Clark. By February 1958 it had become apparent that the problems of the native peoples were much more complex than first anticipated, and it was decided to involve aboriginal peoples in the Commission to help find viable solutions. In 1960, the Indian-Eskimo Association was incorporated, with Mrs. Clark as the first president. The I.E.A. had several functions which included encouraging native leaders to form organizations, fund-raising, organizing workshops to discuss native housing, community and economic development, and providing advice and support in legal matters. Also, provincial and regional divisions were created to help deal with specific native issues, not just native problems on a general level. By 1968, several national and provincial native organizations had been organized. In September of the same year, leaders of the native organizations met with representatives of the I.E.A. to discuss the future role of the Association. It was agreed that the native organizations still needed the I.E.A.'s support, but that they should begin to deal directly with governments, without the I.E.A. acting as the middleman. It was clear that the future of the I.E.A. was to provide only support and advice to the developing native organizations. In 1972, many of the recommendations made in 1968 had come into effect. The name was changed to the Canadian Association in Support of Native Peoples to reflect the new functions of the Association more accurately. At this time, regional offices of the Association were closed, and the head office moved from Toronto to Ottawa. The Association dissolved in 2015.