www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOw6S_immM4&feature=related (sovereignty)

www.nmai.si.edu/iss/2008/me_we... (complete video)
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A good book to start with would be "A Concise History of Canada's First Nations" by Olive Patricia Dickason. Another one to consider is "Aboriginal Peoples in Canada "by James S. Frideres and René R. Gadacz . Both of these are university level texts, and will give you a good start to understanding the history of this country, what has actually happened in regards to Canada's native people and the actual monetary costs associated with Aboriginal people.

I myself am ALGONQUIN -a registered "status Indian" under DIAND's policy.  I have lived both on & off-reserve ... my family works in Indian Government both on & off-reserve. My family have been civil right activists since the 1920's...  The Crown has ALWAYS APPLIED MARTIAL LAW & SWAT TACTICS AGAINST US...

What about the James Bay Cree ?
What about Barrier Lake?
What about Golden Lake Algonquins?
What about the Lubican Lake Crees?
What about Innu of Labrador ?
What about the Teme-Augama Anishnabai ?
What about the elders barricade in Northern Sask against clearcutting?   ( I was in my 20's when I had to cross an RCMP gaunlet full of German Shepard dogs when I visited these elders- when they came to Ottawa I brought them to visit the elders of Barriere Lake)
What about the Cheaslaten of northern B.C. having 24 hrs notice & being burnt out & flooded by Alcan Corp.under the watchful eyes of DIAND? (Sheila Jordan made a film about this community in the northern interior of B.C.)
What about the Gitksan/Wet'suwet'en barricades against clearcutting by Westar?
What about Rouseau River being attacked by SWAT in the mid-90's?
What about Restigouche? Oka? Burnt Church?

All these communities are full of registered Indians under DIAND. Only a handful of Canadians have ever stood with us to face the batons, fire hoses, & RCMP dogs. Mostly university students involved in social justice although I do remember the "Ragin' Grannies" in the 1980's who shamed the federal gov't in song & poetry.

This next piece is about the "RED PAPER in response to Trudeau's infamous  " White Paper" which is still Canada's unofficial "covert" stance on it's "INDIAN PROBLEM"

see: Harpers' right hand man: Tom Flanagan & Alan Cairns " Citizen Plus" for proof...lol

CITIZENSHIP AND TREATY
RIGHTS: THE INDIAN ASSOCIATION
OF ALBERTA AND THE CANADIAN
INDIAN ACT, 1946-1948
Laurie Meijer Drees
Malaspina University College,Vancouver Island
This paper is posted at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln.
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/20

From its inception, the Indian Act did outline
a process by which Indian wards could
divest themselves of their "registered" status
and assume their full citizenship rights. This
process, known as "enfranchisement" under
the act, was one whereby a status Indian person
would be removed from under the jurisdiction
and restrictions of the Indian Act,
thereby gaining the same voting, property, taxpaying,
and social rights as non-Indian citizens.
The enfranchisement process was meant
to "advance" those individuals who were
deemed no longer requiring the protection of
federal legislation, and who were deemed
assimilatable into Canadian political life. Between
1919 and 1922, "enfranchisement"
could be involuntarily bestowed upon Registered
Indians by the Department of Indian
Affairs, and although the act was amended to
eliminate involuntary enfranchisement for a
decade, the process was reestablished between
1933 and 1951. At the time of the committee
hearings, Indian people were still considered
unable to fully assume their rights to vote (provincially
and federally) and were further denied
access to the public education system,
full property rights, and the newly emerging
social welfare programs such as Old Age Pensions,
Mother's Allowances, and Indigent Relief
as a result of the existence of this act. In
short, the Indian Act controlled virtually every
aspect of Indian peoples' lives, including
the composition of their communities, their
governments, and their economies.8 Overall,
the notion that Indian communities were incapable
of governing themselves or their resources
was implied by the structure of the
act. As Arthur Ray notes, "the act created a
special class of people designated solely on the
basis of their race, and it established a means
for governing them autocratically."9 Reserve
communities across Canada were all governed
by this same piece of legislation. During the
interwar years, Indian peoples living in the
province of Alberta viewed the act as restrictive
and incomprehensible; in particular,
Alberta Indian leaders viewed the act as in
conflict with their historic treaties.Outside government circles there was also public demand for the reform of Indian Affairs.
Historian J. R. Miller notes how Canadian
society became more "human rights
conscious" following World War II, and that
this contributed to a public perception that
Canada's paternalistic Indian policy was unacceptable.
21 Historian John Tobias similarly
indicates that "the public was generally concerned
with what was regarded as the treatment
of the Indian as a second-class person
and with the fact that the Indian did not have
the same status as other Canadians."22 Indian
participation in the war effort was often touted
as the basis for their rights to full citizenship
and thus the need for reform. The popular
publication Newsweek reported in 1946, "More
than 2600 Indian men and women served in
the armed forces. Thousands took various war
jobs. Many Canadians believe Indians should
possess full rights of citizenship."23 One published
opinion poll even heralded that 85 percent
of Canadians surveyed believed Canadian
Indians had come into their own and had equal
rights to their non-Indian fellow citizens. 24Governmental
concern with the notion of citizenship is
not surprising given that in this in this same
time period, Canada's Parliament enacted its
first Citizenship Act (1946), illustrating the
concern of this issue generally.
Immediately, the Special Committee recognized
Indian peoples to be existing in a state
of fundamental inequality. The granting of
citizenship rights, including both social and
political rights, was viewed by committee
members as the answer to Indian peoples' problems.
The politicians believed it imperative
THE QUESTION OF CITIZENSHIP 149
that Indian communities have access to their
social rights derived from a stable economic
base and use their own local governments in a
self-determining manner. Through the attainment
of citizenship Indians could become truly
"free" and fully functioning members of the
Canadian community. At the same time, the
committee also believed Indian peoples would
not be able to assert citizenship rights until
they had been suitably and sufficiently educated.
This position was revealed by the
lengthy committee discussions on the poor
state of Indian education. In the eyes of the
government, only formal education would
properly prepare First Nations for their civic
duties.When the committee made its
final representation to Parliament in February
1948 after 128 meetings and after considering
over 400 briefs, it concluded that the Indian
Act be completely overhauled and it recommended
a new Special Committee be struck
to formulate a draft bill amending the act.
Most significantly, the report emphasized "All
proposed revisions are designed to make possible
the gradual transition of Indians from
wardship to citizenship." Despite the broad
mandate of the committee, citizenship eventually
became the focus of its attention and
the basis for its reformist suggestions.

http://en.allexperts.com/e/h/ha/harold_cardinal.htm

To understand more fully the 1969 White Paper & the Indian Activism that fought it -please read the posted comments of:

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2009/10/13/aboriginal-online-broadcast-i...

I wrote about WCIP/ George Manual re: Fourth World etc.etc.

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Danielnpaul.com states in most clearly:

" In the absence of human and civil rights laws to protect us, we were at the mercy of a largely biased white society. Therefore, legal redress to resolve our complaints wasn't available. Factually, the justice system was used more by society to persecute us than to provide justice. We were classified as "Wards of the Crown" - at best treated as third class citizens.

"The most galling aspect about this is that many of the same whites whose bigotry prevents inclusion, and thus prevents Native People from achieving a standard of living equal to theirs, are the first to complain bitterly about the cost of Indian welfare, and to state that "Indians" are too lazy to work. "

"In spite of exclusion, but caused primarily by the adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948, the quality of life for First Nations Peoples in Canada has improved measurably in the past 50 years. The Declaration forced the country to begin the process of cleaning up its act and stop discriminating openly against Natives - the World was watching! This did not, however, mean that legislation was immediately introduced to repeal well entrenched apartheid laws that were enacted to oppress "Indians."

"When trying to pinpoint a date when the easing of apartheid laws allowed First Nations Peoples to escape from "Wards of the Crown status," to third class Canadian Citizenship status, the water is very muddied. The repeal of some apartheid laws in 1951 wasn't the watershed. The fact that it took governments fourteen years after the Canada Citizenship Act was proclaimed on January 1, 1947, to extend to us, August 10, 1960, the right to vote in federal elections clouds the matter further. "

"To add insult to injury a racist statement was included as part of the enfranchisement applications devised by government: Up until 1985, if a Registered Indian wanted to be enfranchised, he/she had to sign a declaration containing this paragraph: "...and certify that I am capable of assuming the responsibilities of citizenship."

www.danielnpaul.com/

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ABORIGINAL PEOPLE:
HISTORY OF DISCRIMINATORY LAWS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS

   A. The Federal and Provincial Franchise

   B. Self-Government

   C. Property Rights

      1. The Right to Homestead

      2. Restricted Right to Sell Agricultural Products

      3. Wills and Estates

FEDERAL CONTROL OF INDIAN STATUS AND MINORITY RIGHTS
IN INTERNATIONAL LAW

CRIMINAL LAW

   A. Liquor Offences

   B. Other Criminal Offences

CONCLUSION

dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/BP/bp175-e.htm

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