In 1880, the Department of Indian Affairs reported that new houses and barns had been built on the island, and that a Superintendent and school teacher was instructing the community in agriculture.
[7] The Dominion Department of Indian Affairs sought to integrate Lennox Island into a Canadian survey for mandated band electoral systems, culminating in an 1897 general election.
During the 1890s campaigns, Sark likewise contended that any elections for "Chief" should be for "royal" lifetime tenure, thereby circumventing the proposed, and then mandated, triennial parameters.
Since Prince Edward Island joined the Canadian Confederation in 1873, the Mi'kmaq band had been under the jurisdiction of the Dominion Department and the 1867 Indian Act of Canada.
The role of Prince Edward Island "amalgamation" debates and hyperdescent ideas on "universal" suffrage in this accelerated moment for Maritime Mi'kmaq band "modernities," both on and off the reserve, nevertheless remains a subject of scholarly inquiry.