Government documents & law

Indian Act  (R.S.C., 1985, c. I-5) Justice Canada - Laws

"The Indian Act is a Canadian federal law that governs in matters pertaining to Indian status, bands, and Indian reserves." (The Indian Act, UBC Indigenous Foundations)

Further reading about the Indian Act:

• UBC Indigenous Foundations. The Indian Act
• âpihtawikosisân (2011). Indigenous Issues 101: Got Status? Indian Status in Canada, sort of explained. 
• Cannon, M.J. (2019). Men, masculinity, and the Indian Act. UBC Press (print book)
• Gehl, L. (2021). Gehl v. Canada: challenging sex discrimination in the Indian Act. University of Regina Press. (ebook)
• Joseph, R. P. C. (2018). 21 things you may not know about the Indian Act. Vancouver: Page Two Books. (print book)
• Kelm, M. & K.D. Smith (2018). Talking back to the Indian Act: critical readings in setter colonial histories. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. (print book)
• Milloy, J. (2008). Indian Act Colonialism: A Century of Dishonour, 1869-1969. Research Paper for the National Centre for First Nations Governance. (ebook)
• Palmater, P. D. (2020). Warrior Life: Indigenous resistance & resurgence. Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing. (print book)
• Reynolds, J. (2018). Aboriginal Peoples and the law: a critical introduction. Vancouver: Purich Books. (print book)

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RCAP: Report on the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996) - Government of Canada

The Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) concerns government policy with respect to the original historical nations of this country. Those nations are important to Canada, and how Canada relates to them defines in large measure its sense of justice and its image in its own eyes and before the world.

• Graham, K.A. & Newhouse, D. (2021). Sharing the land, sharing a future [The Sharing the Land, Sharing a Future Forum Marking the Twentieth Anniversary of RCAP]. University of Manitoba Press. (print book)

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 UNDRIP: United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) - UN General Assembly Resolution

The Declaration is the most comprehensive international instrument on the rights of indigenous peoples. It establishes a universal framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world and it elaborates on existing human rights standards and fundamental freedoms as they apply to the specific situation of indigenous peoples.

• Barrows, J., Chartland, L., Fitzgerlad, O., Schwartz, R. (eds). (2019). Braiding legal orders: implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Waterloo, ON: Centre for International Governance Innovation. (print book)
• Borrows, L. (2018). Otter's journey through Indigenous language and law. Vancouver: UBC Press. (print book)
• Hartley, J., Joffe, P., & Preston, J. (eds). (2010). Realizing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: triumph, hope, and action. Saskatoon: Purich Publishling. (print book)
• Imai, S. (2019). Annotated Aboriginal law: The Constitution, Legislation, Treaties and Supreme of Canada and Case Summaries. Toronto: Thomson Reuters. (print book)
• Krasowski, S. (2019). No surrender: the land remains Indigenous. Unviersity of Regina Press.  (print book)
• Lennox, C., & Short, D. (eds). (2016). Handbook of Indigenous peoples rights. New York: Routledge. (print book)
• Lightfoot, S. (2016). Global Indigenous politics: a subtle revolution. New York: Routledge. (print book)
• Schweitzer, D. & Gareau, P.L. (Eds). (2021). Honouring the Declaration: church commitments to reconciliation and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Regina: University of Regina Press. (ebook and print).
• United Nations. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. (2019). State of the world's Indigenous peoples: implementing the United Nations Declaraion on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. (print book)

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Canada's Residential Schools: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015) - TRC

"For over a century, the central goals of Canada’s Aboriginal policy were to eliminate Aboriginal governments; ignore Aboriginal rights; terminate the Treaties; and, through a process of assimilation, cause Aboriginal peoples to cease to exist as distinct legal, social, cultural, religious, and racial entities in Canada. The establishment and operation of residential schools were a central element of this policy, which can best be described as “cultural genocide.”" (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015, Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future, p. 1) 

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National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) (2019) 

"Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in Canada have been the targets of violence for far too long. This truth is undeniable. The fact that this National Inquiry is happening now doesn’t mean that Indigenous Peoples waited this long to speak up; it means it took this long for Canada to listen." ( Reclaiming Power and Place: the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, p.49)

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The Public Inquiry Commission on Relations between Indigenous Peoples and Certain Public Services in Québec (Viens Commission) (2019)

"In a call for reconciliation and a new balance of forces, the Commission's report puts forward 142 measures, several of which stem from findings that apply to all services investigated. One of these recommendations is the adoption by the National Assembly of a motion to recognize and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as the adoption of a law to ensure that the provisions of this Declaration are incorporated into Québec’s legislative corpus."

 

Government departments

Current departments

In August 2017, the Prime Minister announced plans for the dissolution of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) and the creation of two new departments: Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC). This transformation will take time and includes engagement with Indigenous peoples. This websites of these new departments will be updated as a result of structural changes to the departments.

• Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada

• Indigenous Services Canada

History of departmental responsibility

"Throughout the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century, it was the British Imperial Government which, mainly through the actions of its military commanders, governors general, and lieutenant governors between European colonists and the original peoples of North America. In the Maritimes, the colonial legislatures of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island dealt with Indian matters by appointing commissioners and passing legislation as specific needs arose.

In the united Canadas, the Department of Crown Lands assumed responsibility for Indian administration in Canada East and Canada West in 1860.

On the Prairies and in British Columbia, the operations of the Hudson's Bay Company constituted Britain's initial dealings with the Indian nations.

At Confederation, the federal Department of Secretary of State undertook the management of the Canadian government's role with respect to Indians in Canada, then shifting to the Department of the Interior in 1873.

In 1880 a separate Department of Indian Affairs was created, which gave full departmental status to Indian Affairs. This arrangement lasted for fifty-six years, after which Indian Affairs reverted to branch status within the following departments:

• Mines and Resources from 1936 to 1949,
• Citizenship and Immigration from 1949 to 1965,
• Northern Affairs and National Resources from 1965 to 1966,
• Indian Affairs and Northern Development from 1966 to 2017.

Inuit programs were handled by the Northern Affairs Program and its predecessors until 1971. At that time, the Indian and Eskimo (later Inuit) Affairs Program came into existence." (Library and Archives Canada, 2018, Indian Affairs Record Group Inventory: Administrative Outline)

Government Relations

Inuit

Canada's Relationship with Inuit: A History of Policy and Program Development (2006) - Indian and Northern Affairs Canada

An overview of the federal government’s Inuit policy and program development from first contact to 2006. Topics that are covered  include the 1939 Re Eskimo decision that gave Canada constitutional responsibility for Inuit, post World War II acculturation and defence projects, law and justice, sovereignty and relocations, the E-number identification system, Inuit political organizations, comprehensive claim agreements, housing, healthcare, education, economic development, self-government, the environment and urban issues.