The Indian Act controls many aspects of the lives of First Nations and their members.

The term Indian is used on this site only when talking about the Indian Act and other laws that use and define Indian. It was the term used by colonizers to refer to the First Nations already living in what is now Canada.

In the late 1800s, the Government of Canada passed the first Indian Act. The purpose was to control First Nations Peoples and their reserve lands. The purpose was also to assimilate First Nations Peoples by forcing them to give up their culture, language and ways of life. It imposed complete control over First Nations, including defining who would be 'Indian' under the Act.

The assimilation policy was based on the racist idea that First Nation people needed to be ‘civilized’ by forcing them to adopt the colonizers’ way of life. The Indian Act, with its extensive controls over First Nation people and their lands, remains in force today with many and ongoing changes.

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Indian Act Control

The Indian Act and policies created under it allowed the Canadian government to control the lives of people registered under the Act and reserve communities in many ways.

Reserves

Setting aside land for the exclusive use of the First Nation was a Treaty promise but reserve land came to be controlled by the Indian Act.

Laws on Reserves

Some provincial laws that apply to everyone in the province apply on reserves, but there are some that do not.

How are Reserves Governed?

First Nations Councils, chosen in a number of different ways, now govern reserves.