21 Things You Need to Know About Indigenous Self-government21 Things You Need to Know About Indigenous Self-government

"The Indian Act has controlled the lives of Indigenous Peoples in Canada for generations. Despite its objective to assimilate Status Indians into the economic and political mainstream, it has had the opposite effect: segregation. Indigenous Peoples in Canada live under different laws and on different lands. Readers came away from the first 21 Things book asking "Can we get rid of the Indian Act?" and What would that look like? Will self-government work?" These are timely questions, given that 2026 marks 150 years since the consolidated Indian Act of 1876. The short answer is, yes, we can dismantle the Act, and there are current examples of self-government arrangements that are working.... Indigenous self-governance is already happening and is not to be feared -- and negotiating more such arrangements, sooner rather than later, is an absolute necessity."--