The Green party is promising a framework for Indigenous communities to opt out of the Indian Act as part of its strategy for reconciliation.
Party leader Elizabeth May says dismantling what she calls the “racist and oppressive” Indian Act, the law which defines much of the relationship between the federal government and First Nations, will be a complex process.
Since Canada was created in 1867, the federal government has been in charge of indigenous affairs. The Indian Act, which was enacted in 1876 and has since been amended, allows the government to control most aspects of indigenous life: Indian status, land, resources, wills, education, band administration and so on.
Inuit and Métis are not governed by this law.
Should her party form government, May says the Greens would re-introduce legislation to implement the dozens of calls to action of both the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
A Green government would also enshrine the tenets of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into law — something that has been a contentious issue between the parties in the House of Commons.
May was in Cowichan Bay, B.C., campaigning with Green candidate Lydia Hwitsum in a Vancouver Island riding neighbouring her own seat.
The Greens are hoping for a breakthrough on the Island, and recent polls suggest they may be set to win several of the area’s seven seats.
The party is polling around 10 per cent nationally.