 Not Afraid to “Look Like Savages” 
In 1925, under the leadership of Duncan Campbell Scott, Indian Affairs undertook an ambitious project to restore and preserve totem poles in British Columbia. Two years later, the Indian Act was amended to better protect these heritage objects on reserves. Initiatives of this kind seem curious at first sight, as Indian Affairs was making unprecedented efforts at the same time to accelerate acculturation and eventually emancipation of Aboriginal peoples. However, an analysis of the Indian Affairs archives and government publications surrounding this project, shows that the Indigenous cultural dimension associated with the poles was less of a concern to senior administrators than the necessity to preserve and protect from foreign greed the objects that have become a source of tourism income and a symbol of national identity. Thus, this initiative was consistent with the paradigm guiding the implementation of the Indian policy, which was to focus in the short term on the material interests of the state to the detriment of aboriginal interests and the longer-term goal of emancipation.