Amendments and Bill C-31
There have been over twenty major changes made to the original Act. The original Indian Act does two things affecting all Aboriginal peoples in Canada.
- It says how reserves and bands can operate.
- The act sets out rules for governing Indian reserves, defines how bands can be created and spells out the powers of "band councils". Bands do not have to have reserve lands to operate under the act.
- It defines who is and who is not recognised as an "Indian". The act defined a number of types of Indian people who were denied recognition as "registered" or "status" Indians and who were therefore denied membership in bands.
Read more about this topic: Indian Act
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