The Indian Act, passed by Canada in 1876, was central to Federal Government control over virtually all aspects of First Peoples (Indigenous) daily life. The Indian Act was the legislative authority for the establishment of Indian residential schools, though Church run residential schools did exist as early as the 1830s. The Indian Act was employed beyond its legislative mandate to include Métis and Inuit societies into what became a massive and traumatic alienation from their cultures, families and communities.