Our Inherent Right of Self-Governance: a Timeline

Though Aboriginal people in Canada are enormously diverse in our languages, culture and traditions, since contact with the first Europeans we have repeatedly given the same message to the governments of the Crown. We are willing to share and live in harmony, but that peaceful coexistence must be just and fair, with sufficient lands and freedom on those lands, and the ability to exercise authority over those lands as we have done since time immemorial.

We have always governed ourselves. Before colonization, we enjoyed the fruits of our lands and resources and established frameworks of custom and law to protect and sustain these lands. When contact first took place, the Europeans needed us to help them trade and to be allies in war. These needs gave rise to the practice of making treaties. The tradition of treaty-making survived over time, but the Crown began to perceive treaties, more and more, as avenues for increased expansion on indigenous lands. The idea of treaties as fundamental agreements between nations of equals began to fade into the background.

As colonization unfolded, a sustained effort was made to impose, at first, French and British and then Canadian institutions on Aboriginal people. Efforts were made to break down traditional indigenous ways and replace them with institutions such as Indian Act government and governance through the Department of Indian Affairs. Much damage was done. Much change took place, but indigenous peoples never fully stopped governing themselves. Most importantly, we retained our right, our inherent right, to govern ourselves.

Use this Timeline to explore the history of our right to self-governance, a right rooted in our occupation and jurisdiction over the land before contact. Today, we continue to link our self-governing powers with the issues which revolve around «the land question», for the matter of indigenous land rights has only recently began to be seriously addressed by the Crown. Because of this, for many Aboriginal people, the movement for self-governance is an expression of and a way to reaffirm our authority in relation to the land.

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