The Dominion Indian Affairs Settlement Act (1919) and the British Columbia Indian Lands Settlement Act (1920) were passed to adopt recommendations from the Royal Commission report. The Acts also enabled the governments to reduce lands without the permission from Indigenous communities.
The Ditchburn-Clark Report
The Royal Commission’s report recommendations received an unfavourable response from all parties involved: government and Indigenous Nations. As a result government officials, W.E. Ditchburn and J.W. Clark were charged with the task to review hearing testimony and gather additional evidence. This process ensued from 1920-1924.
At this juncture, Indigenous communities were permitted to have one Indigenous representative, James Teit. Unfortnately, he died in 1922 before the committee had ended; once again, Indigenous members were not given the authority that rightly belonged to them.
As a result, the report that was released by Ditchburn and Clark further reduced land by an estimated 10,000 acres. Final recommendations were approved by both the Dominion and Provincial authorities on July 19, 1924. In the end, twenty-three bands had their land reduced: a total of thirty-five cut-offs.
Excerpt from: The Land Is the Culture: A Case for B.C. Indian Land Claims