The Indian Act, which was passed by the federal government of the new Dominion of Canada in 1876 and is still in place today, is the most important law for First Nations. The Indian Act was another attempt by the Crown to assimilate First Nations people with the rest of Canadian society. This legal document sets the rules for Indian status, reserves, and bands(Pulling Together: Foundations Guide).
"I have a vision that one day I would be free again. Free to be myself, to be an Indian. I lost that freedom 45 years ago. It was divested by a law. I had a vision that the free fathers of the great citadel for democracy and freedom, a land of 23 million, who form a mosaic of people and cultures known as Canada, would erase forever the diabolical words that have been in conflict with a philosophy that each you hold dear as Canadians, that each of the people in this great country be free. Please search your hearts and minds, follow the dictates of your conscience. Set my sisters free. " - Mary Two-Axe Earley at 1983 constitutional conference (from Mary Two-Axe Earley: I Am Indian Again)
Since the Indian Act was passed in 1867, it has had considerable impact on Indigenous communities, way of life, and government. The Act's gender discrimination had a huge impact on First Nations women. Until 1985, women with Indian status who married people without status lost their status rights whereas men did not lose their status the same way. The Act discriminated against women by giving priority to male lineage even after Bill C-31 restored many women's status rights in 1985. Amendments from 2011 and 2017 attempted to address these problems. The remainder of Bill S-3, which aims to eliminate persisting sex-based inequities in the Indian Act, was implemented by the federal government in 2019 (The Canadian Encyclopedia).
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