Why repealing the Indian Act isn't so simple
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Why repealing the Indian Act isn't so simple

B2Upper-intermediateNovember 2, 202624 min
  • Politics
  • About Canada

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew called for the Indian Act to be abolished, which was met with echoes from Prime Minister Mark Carney who agreed that it should be scrapped. The act was passed in 1876 with aims of assimilating Indigenous populations into Eurocentric ways of living through legislation that governs where they live, where their kids go to school, and who they are. Host Maria Kestane speaks to John Borrows, the Loveland Chair in Indigenous Law at the University of Toronto's faculty of law. They discuss the different approaches that could help repeal and replace the...

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And that legislation still stands today, although some amendments have been made to

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called into question as it has been for decades, but this time by Ottawa, after Prime Minister

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B2 · Upper-intermediate

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Frequency podcast network. Stories that matter. Podcasts that resonate. The Indian Act was passed in 1876. It's legislation that controls who indigenous people are, where they can send their kids to school, where they can live, how they spend their money. And that legislation still stands today, although some amendments have been made to

0:24

certain provisions. And as it marks 150 years since creation, its very existence has been called into question as it has been for decades, but this time by Ottawa, after Prime Minister Carney said he was open to abolishing it following calls from Manitoba Premier Wab Canoe to do so. But those calls were met with criticism from First Nations leaders themselves,

0:48

saying scrapping the act would lead to a slew of other issues regarding land rights in the future of reserves, also funding allocations, and identity status. So what exactly would a replacement of the Act look like? Who spearheads those talks?

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