Whether the Aboriginals should self-government or not Free Essay Example, 1750 words

Inuit was brought under federal responsibility in 1939 while MÃ ©tis was not under any jurisdiction federal or provincial. The 1867 Act had established two levels of government: federal and provincial and left no room for a third form of government. The government adopted a policy of assimilation up to 1950s thus ignoring most of the important ideals held by Indians. The mandate to make Decision was given the minister of Indian affairs and northern development. Further policy changes were made in 1969 where devolved services and programs as well as the special status for Indians were terminated (Wherrett n. p). Lack of the inherent right of Aboriginals as Aboriginal people led them to begin agitating for self-government in the 1970s. Though Aboriginals and aboriginal treaty rights were recognized in the Constitution Act, 1982, different views existed as to what constituted aboriginal self-government. For some it was a way of solving their problems but to politicians it was denying them some of the powers. According to Russell (3) some supported the Act due to sympathy for the Aboriginals while others rejected it out of fear of losing their homes. We will write a custom essay sample on Whether the Aboriginals should self-government or not or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now Many of the Canadians Aboriginals included did not have a real understanding of the term self-government. Section 35 of the Act was exclusively for dealing with Aboriginal affairs. It affirmed Aboriginal treaty rights and defined the people of Canada as Indian, Inuits and MÃ ©tis. The Indians was divided among those with treaties and those who did not have. The MÃ ©tis on the other hand, were divided by the issue of land base. They differed over whether prairies history and lifestyle were defining characteristics than blood relations while the Inuit were divided according to how lands were dispersed and governed (3). The Nunavut territory joined in 1999 to reconcile some of these differences among Aboriginal People. The Act also stipulated clearly that treaty rights included rights that existed in way of land claim agreements and that the Aboriginal and treaty rights were to be gender neutral. The first ministers were to hold conferences to identi fy and define the rights of Aboriginal people but as it shall be proven later, these ministers were not willing to engage in such issues. By the time the final conference was held in 1988, no proposals had been presented by these leaders or ministers. Worse still, no constitutional amendments had been effected for identification and definition of rights of Aboriginal people (Russell 5).