In the early days of the Indian Act, one intent behind the alcohol ban was the belief that if Indians were able to access alcohol, they wouldn’t be diligently working their “farmland.” In other words, they should be on the reserve, working land that, in many cases, was not arable. They were expected to farm with rudimentary hand tools because they were denied access to modern farm tools, and if they did manage to grow anything, they weren’t allowed to sell it without a permit to leave the reserve or the permit required to sell their produce.
