| Year | Date | Event | - |
| 1793 | | Nuxálk and Carrier guides led Alexander MacKenzie along the grease trails to the Pacific Ocean when natural obstacles in the Fraser River prevented his continued water route. Nuxalk-Carrier Route or Blackwater Trail was part of a long used network of trails originally used by the Nuxálk and Carrier people for communication, transport and trade, in particular, trade in Eulachon grease from the Pacific coast. | |
| 1799 | | Makenunatane "Swan Chief", was a visionary leader, who foresaw the changes coming that would affect his people, the Dunne-za or Beaver Nation. He believed his people should adopt the more individualistic life of the fur trapper-trader rather than continue with the communal hunts to survive. He led his people to a trading post to initiate contact with the traders. He also encouraged them to accept Christianity as he believed the Christian rituals were more appropriate to the life of fur traders and Christianity was a short cut to heaven. Swan Chief got his name because of his ability to fly like the swan. He had powerful visions of the bison hunt and organized the surround and slaughter hunts with skill because of his visions. | - |
| 1812 | | "British support for First Nations was a source of conflict that was the foundation for the Revolutionary War and continued with the War of 1812. "During the War of 1812, an alliance was established and a respectful relationship grew between a British leader, Major General Isaac Brock, a British Officer, and an emerging Shawnee leader of the First Nations named Tecumseh." After the war the traditional roles for Indian people in colonial society declined rapidly. | |
| 1821 | | A trading post was established at York Factory as headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's Northern Department. They traded with the Swampy Cree. | |
| 1839 | | Upper Canada passed a law to protect Indian reserves, basically including Indian lands in with crown lands. | |
| 1840s | | The first Indian residential schools in Canada were set up in the 1840s with the last residential school closing in 1996. | |
| 1850 | | Four works by George Copway Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh, a Mississaugas Ojibwa writer, ethnographer, and Methodist missionary, lecturer, were published in 1850, , The Life, Letters, and Speeches of Kah-ge-ga-gah-Bowh, Ojibwa Conquest, and Organization of a New Indian Territory, East of the Missouri River | |
| 1867 | | The British North America Act of 1867 Constitution Act, 1867 established Canada as a self-governing country. | |
| 1867 | | Thirteen cabinets were established through negotiations after the creation Dominion of Canada including the "minister of the interior, who was also then the superintendent-general of Indian affairs". | - |
| 1868 | | The British Parliament passed the Rupert's Land Act 1868 – "An Act for enabling Her Majesty to accept a Surrender upon Terms of the Lands, Privileges and Rights of ‘The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson’s Bay’ and for admitting the same into the Dominion of Canada." | |
| 1869–70 | | On 19 November 1869, HBC surrendered its charter to the British Crown, which was authorized to accept the surrender by the Rupert's Land Act.
The new Canadian government compensated the Hudson's Bay Company £300,000 for dissolving it HBC's charter with the British Crown. The HBC had exclusive commercial domain over Rupert's Land—a vast continental expanse—a third of what is now Canada. By order-in-council dated 23 June 1870, the British government admitted Rupert's Land to Canada through the Constitution Act, 1867, effective 15 July 1870, conditional on the making of treaties with the sovereign indigenous nations providing consent to the Queen. | |
| 1871 | | Treaty 1, a controversial agreement established 3 August 1871 between Queen Victoria and Brokenhead Ojibway Nation, Fort Alexander, Long Plain First Nation, Peguis First Nation, Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation, Sandy Bay First Nation and Swan Lake First Nation in South Eastern Manitoba including the Chippewa and Swampy Cree tribes, was the first of the numbered Treaties. | |
| 1871 | | "Your Great Mother, therefore, will lay aside for you 'lots' of land to be used by you and your children forever. She will not allow the white man to intrude upon these lots. She will make rules to keep them for you, so that as long as the sun shall shine, there shall be no Indian who has not a place that he can call his home, where he can go and pitch his camp or if he chooses build his house and till his land." | |
| 1872 | | Then Prime Minister John A. Macdonald established the Department of the Interior for the purpose of administering the Dominion Lands Act of 1872. | - |
| 1873 | 1 June | A group of American bison hunters, wolf hunters or "wolfers", and whisky traders killed a camp of over twenty Nakoda Assiniboine people. The Massacre was a catalyst to bring the newly formed North-West Mounted Police to the area. In 1964 the site of the massacre was designated a National Historic Site of Canada. | |
| 1875 | | In 1875, the Government of Canada had granted a strip of land along the western shore of Lake Winnipeg between Boundary Creek and White Mud River inclusive of Hecla Island to Icelandic immigrants who established a settlement in what is now Gimli in the fall of 1875. | |
| 1876 | | A severe smallpox epidemic erupted in 1876 originating from the second wave of hundreds of Icelandic settlers resulting in hundreds of deaths as it quickly spread to the indigenous First Nation population including the nearby Sandy Bar Band first nation community at Riverton. The newly formed Council of Keewatin imposed severe restrictions on the fur trade with furs and trading posts burnt to prevent the spread of smallpox and no possibility of compensation. The epidemic and quarantine postponed the move until the summer of 1877 when 43 families—representing 200 people made the 200 mile journey south to the present day Fisher River Reserve. | |
| 1876 | | The Indian Act, a Canadian statute that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves was first passed in 1876 and is still in force with amendments, it is the primary document which governs how the Canadian state interacts with the 614 Indian bands in Canada and their members. Throughout its long history the act has been an ongoing source of controversy and has been interpreted in many ways by both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians. The legislation has been amended many times, including "over twenty major changes" made by 2002. The provisions of Section 91 of the Constitution Act, 1867, provided Canada's federal government exclusive authority to legislate in relation to "Indians and Lands Reserved for Indians". | |
| 1876 | 25 November | The District of Keewatin was created by the passage of the Keewatin Act on 7 October 1876 The government of Canada established the Council of Keewatin with Lieutenant Governor Alexander Morris as its head. The Council was disbanded on 16 April 1877. | |
| 1877 | | Following the signing of Treaty 5 the Fisher River Cree Nation a "surplus population" of 180 people who had been living at Norway House 200 miles south to Fisher River in 1877 and 1888. The HBC earned $1000 in revenue by assisting with the move. | |
| 1879 | | This year is remembered by the Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsitapi as Itsistsitsis/awenimiopi meaning when first/no more buffalo. | |
| 1883 | | Sir Hector-Louis Langevin , a Canadian lawyer, politician and one of the Fathers of Confederation played an important role in the establishment of the Canadian Indian residential school system. As Secretary of State for the Provinces, Langevin made it clear to Parliament in 1883 that day schools would be insufficient in assimilating Aboriginal children. Langevin was one of the architects of the residential schools and argued: "The fact is that if you wish to educate the children you must separate them from their parents during the time they are being taught. If you leave them in the family they may know how to read and write, but they will remain savages, whereas by separating them in the way proposed, they acquire the habits and tastes...of civilized people." | |
| 1884 | | The Great Marpole Midden, an ancient Musqueam village and burial site in the Marpole neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, was uncovered during road upgrading. | |
| 1887 | | In 1887, the Nisga'a challenged the distribution of their traditional lands in the Nass River valley to western settlers. This was in violation of the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which recognized Aboriginal title in British North America and acknowledged the existence and continuity of Aboriginal self-government. | |
| 1888 | | St. Catherines Milling v. The Queen, regarding lands on Lake Wabigoon granted to a lumber company by the federal government, thought to be within Rupert's Land when Canada entered into Treaty 3 in 1873 with the Ojibway. It was the leading case on aboriginal title in Canada for more than 80 years. See R. v. Guerin. | |
| 1899 | | Treaty 8 was the last formal treaty signed by a First Nation in British Columbia until Nisga agreement. | |
| 1900 | | The Beaver peoples suffering from disease and starvation, were the last band to sign Treaty 8 in May, 1900. | |
| 1907 | | In Moose Factory, Bishop Horden Memorial School also known as Horden Hall Residential School, Moose Factory Residential School, Moose Fort Indian Residential School. Indian Affairs fell under the purview of the Department of Mines and Resources. | - |
| 1940s | | The First Nations nutrition experiments were conducted on isolated communities, such as The Pas and Norway House in northern Manitoba and in residential schools. | |
| 1953 | | The Department of the Interior was renamed the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources. | |
| 1950s, 1960s | | UBC professor Charles Edward Borden undertook salvage archaeology projects at Great Marpole Midden. Borden "was the first to draw links between contemporary Musqueam peoples and excavated remains." | |
| 1961 | | In the early 1960s, the National Indian Council was created in 1961 to represent indigenous people of Canada, including treaty/status Indians, non-status Indians, the Métis people, though not the Inuit. | |
| 1960s | | The Sixties Scoop was coined by Patrick Johnston in his 1983 report Native Children and the Child Welfare System. It refers to the Canadian practice, beginning in the 1960s and continuing until the late 1980s, of apprehending unusually high numbers of children of Aboriginal peoples in Canada and fostering or adopting them out, usually into white families. | |
| 1961 | | The Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources was renamed The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. | |
| 1960s | | Norval Morrisseau, an Ojibwe artist from Northern Ontario, Canada. was the originator of the Woodlands School style of painting inspired by traditional oral Ojibwe histories, dreams and visions. Morriseau learned from his grandfather Moses "Potan" Nanakonagos. Morrisseau said, "all my painting and drawing is really a continuation of the shaman's scrolls." | |
| 1965 | | The Supreme Court upheld the treaty hunting rights of Indian people on Vancouver Island against provincial hunting regulations in R. v. White and Bob. | |
| 1967 | | In 1963, the federal government commissioned University of British Columbia anthropologist Harry B. Hawthorn to investigate the social conditions of Aboriginal peoples across Canada. The Hawthorn Reports of 1966 and 1967 "concluded that Aboriginal peoples were Canada’s most disadvantaged and marginalized population. They were "citizens minus." Hawthorn attributed this situation to years of failed government policy, particularly the residential school system, which left students unprepared for participation in the contemporary economy." "The Hawthorne report, issued in 1967 under the title A Survey of the Contemporary Indians of Canada, provided the first systematic non-Aboriginal critique of the Indian Act." | |
| 1969 | | Frank Arthur Calder and the Nisga'a Nation Tribal Council brought an action against the British Columbia government claimed they had legal title to their traditional territory. They declared that aboriginal title to certain lands in the province had never been lawfully extinguished. | |
| Year | Date | Event |
| 1969 | | 1969 White Paper was a Canadian policy paper by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his Minister of Indian Affairs, Jean Chrétien in 1969 proposing the abolition the Indian Act and dismantling of the established legal relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the state of Canada in favour of equality. The federal government proposed that, by eliminating "Indian" as a distinct legal status, equality among all Canadians would result. The White Paper proposed to The federal government at the time argued that the Indian Act was discriminatory and that the special legal relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian state should be dismantled in favour of equality, in accordance with Trudeau's vision of a "just society." The federal government proposed that by eliminating "Indian" as a distinct legal status, the resulting equality among all Canadians would help resolve the problems faced by Aboriginal peoples. "Following considerable review, and rejecting the recommendations of the much touted Hawthorne Report,11 commissioned to identify the underlying causes of Aboriginal disengagement from Canadian society, of only a few years earlier, the Government of Canada released the White Paper on Indian Affairs in 1969." |
| 1971 | October | The Manitoba Indian Brotherhood – now the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs – presented their landmark position paper entitled, "Wahbung: Our Tomorrows"—in opposition to then-Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau's 1969 White Paper which proposed the abolition of the Indian Act. After opposition from many Aboriginal leaders—including the MIB—the white paper was abandoned in 1970. |
| 1973 | | The Supreme Court of Canada in Calder v. British Columbia 4 W.W.R. 1 was the first time that Canadian law acknowledged that aboriginal title to land existed prior to the colonization of the continent and was not merely derived from statutory law. Frank Arthur Calder and the Nisga'a Nation Tribal Council won the landmark case, Calder v British Columbia with Thomas Berger as their counsel. |
| 1973 | | The Federation of Newfoundland Indians — which included Mi'kmaq from all across the island formed in order to achieve federal recognition. |
| 1975 | | The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement land claim settlement was approved in 1975 by the Cree and Inuit of northern Quebec. It was slightly modified in 1978 by the Northeastern Quebec Agreement when the Quebec's Naskapi First Nations joined the treaty. |
| 1979 | | In the 1979 Hamlet of Baker Lake v. Minister of Indian Affairs case, Judge Mahoney of the Federal Court of Canada, recognized the existence of Aboriginal Title in Nunavut. The plaintiffs, the Baker Lake Hunters and Trappers Association from Baker Lake and the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada were concerned that "government-licensed exploration companies were interfering with their aboriginal rights, specifically, their right to hunt caribou." |
| 1982 | | Section Thirty-five of the Constitution Act, 1982 provides constitutional protection to the aboriginal and treaty rights of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. |
| 1984 | | R. v. Guerin 2 S.C.R. 335 was a landmark Supreme Court of Canada decision on aboriginal rights where the Court first stated that the government has a fiduciary duty towards the First Nations of Canada and established aboriginal title to be a sui generis right. The Musqueam Indian band won their case. |
| 1985 | | Bill C-31. |
| 1986 | | The National Gallery of Canada acquired its first work of contemporary art by a Canadian Indigenous artist. It was The North American Iceberg by Ojibwe artist, Carl Beam R.C.A. who was originally from the M'Chigeeng First Nation. |
| 1987 | | Meech Lake Accord, a constitutional amendment package negotiated to gain Quebec's acceptance of the Constitution Act, 1982, was negotiated without the input of Canada's Aboriginal peoples. |
| 1987 | November | Two men stood trial in November 1987 "for the 1971 murder of Helen Betty Osborne in The Pas, Manitoba. Allegations were made that the identity of four people present at the killing was known widely in the community shortly after the murder." This was one of the incidents that became the catalyst for the establishment of the Manitoba Aboriginal Justice Inquiry in April 1988. |
| 1988 | March | J.J. Harper, executive director of the Island Lake Tribal Council, died "following an encounter with a Winnipeg police officer. Many people, particularly in the Aboriginal community, believed many questions about the incident were left unanswered by the police service’s internal investigation." This was one of the incidents that became the catalyst for the establishment of the Manitoba Aboriginal Justice Inquiry in April 1988. |
| 1988 | April | The Manitoba Government created the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry in response to "the trial in November 1987 of two men for the 1971 murder of Helen Betty Osborne in The Pas and the death in March 1988 of J.J. Harper, executive director of the Island Lake Tribal Council. |
| 1989 | | Rita Joe was a Mi'kmaw poet and songwriter, known as the Poet Laureate of the Mi'kmaq people. She wrrote in both Mi'kmaq and English about loss and resilience of the Mi'kmaq culture, was awarded the Order of Canada in 1989. Well known works include the 1996 publication Song of Rita Joe: Autobiography of a Mi'kmaq Poet which told of some of her experiences at the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School. She is one of a number of writers who refers in her work to Glooscap, a trickster, a cultural hero in Mi'kmaq literature. Other honours include the National Aboriginal Achievement Award in 1987 and the Queen's Privy Council for Canada in 1992. |
| 1990 | | The Oka Crisis was a land dispute between a group of Oka and the Mohawk community of Kanesatake, Quebec, the first well-publicized violent conflict between First Nations and the Canadian government in the late 20th century. |
| 1990 | June | In 1990, Elijah Harper, a Canadian politician and Chief of his Red Sucker Lake, Manitoba, held an eagle feather as he refused to accept the Meech Lake Accord because it did not address any First Nations grievances. Harper was the first "Treaty Indian" in Manitoba to be elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. |
| 1990 | ... | The third, final constitutional conference on Aboriginal peoples was also unsuccessful. The Manitoba assembly was required to unanimously consent to a motion allowing it to hold a vote on the accord, because of a procedural rule. Twelve days before the ratification deadline for the Accord, Harper began a filibuster that prevented the assembly from ratifying the accord. Because Meech Lake failed in Manitoba, the proposed constitutional amendment failed. |
| 1991 | | The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples was a Canadian Royal Commission established in 1991 to address many issues of aboriginal status that had come to light with recent events such as the Oka Crisis and the Meech Lake Accord |
| 1993 | 18 June | The report "Aboriginal Peoples and the Justice System" by the National Round Table on Aboriginal Justice Issues was published. It included a chapter by Patricia A. Monture, a Mohawk lawyer, educator and writer. |
| 1995 | 6 September | On 6 September 1995 Dudley George was fatally shot by an Ontario Provincial Police officer in Ipperwash Provincial Park leading to the Ipperwash Inquiry. |
| 1996 | | Steven Tyler Kummerfield and Alexander Dennis Ternowetsky were charged with manslaughter in the death of 28-year-old Pamela Jean George of the Sakimay First Nation near Regina on 18 April 1995. Justice Ted Malone interrupted the Crown prosecutor several times and gave "controversial instructions" to the jury all-white jury to "bear in mind that Pamela "indeed was a prostitute". Justice Malone told the jury that it would be "very dangerous' to convict Kummerfield and Ternowetsky of first degree murder." In response, "a coalition of Regina-based women's groups filed a formal complaint against Mr. Justice Malone to the Canadian Judicial Council for the inappropriate comments during his charge to the jury. The National Action Committee on the Status of Women said the judge's remarks "dehumanized women and trivialized the murder". Blaine Favel, Chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, called the verdict "one of the most unjust in Saskatchewan judicial history". |
| 1996 | | The report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples was published setting out "a 20-year agenda for implementing changes." |
| 1996 | | The 'Nisga'a Final Agreement or Nisga'a Treaty was signed by Joseph Gosnell, Nelson Leeson and Edmond Wright of the Nisg_a'a Nation. Nisga'a Treaty the long-standing and historic land claims made by the Nisg_a'a with the government of British Columbia, and the Government of Canada. As part of the settlement in the Nass River valley nearly 2,000 square kilometres of land was officially recognized as Nisg_a'a, and a 300,000 cubic decameter water reservation was also created. Bear Glacier Provincial Park was also created as a result of this agreement. Thirty-one Nisga'a placenames in the territory became official names. The land-claim settlement was the first formal treaty signed by a First Nation in British Columbia since Treaty 8 in 1899. The agreement gives the Nisga'a control over their land, including the forestry and fishing resources contained in it. |
| 1997 | | Delgamuukw v. British Columbia 3 S.C.R. 1010, is a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada where the Court expressly and explicitly declined to make any definitive statement on the nature of aboriginal title in Canada. In 1984 the Gitksan and the Wet'suwet'en Nation claimed ownership of land in northwestern British Columbia. |
| 1997 | | "Since 1997, more than 207 archaeological objects and 1700 faunal remains have been recovered from 43 melting ice patches in the southern Yukon. The artifacts range in age from a 9000-year-old dart shaft to a 19th-century musket ball ... Of particular interest is the description of three different techniques for the construction of throwing darts and the observation of stability in the hunting technology employed in the study area over seven millennia. Radiocarbon chronologies indicate that this period of stability was followed by an abrupt technological replacement of the throwing dart by the bow and arrow after 1200 BP." The artifacts are curated by the Yukon Archaeology Program, Government of Yukon. |
| 1999 | | Canadian Indigenous Languages and Literacy Development Institute was established in 1999. |
| 2001 | | In the 2001 INAC publication, Words First: an Evolving Terminology Relating to Aboriginal Peoples in Canada, which described outdated terminology and suggested more respectful terms, noted that "Many First Nations now prefer the term "First Nation community," and no longer use "reserve". In Canada, the term First Nation began replacing Indian in the 1970s According to the Communications Branch of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada publication, published in 2001 and updated since, to "provide writers with background information and guidance on appropriate word usage and style issues, the term "Indian" is controversial and outdated. The Department, following "contemporary usage, typically uses the term "First Nation" instead of "Indian," except in the following cases: in direct quotations, when citing titles of books, works of art, etc., in discussions of history where necessary for clarity and accuracy, in discussions of some legal/constitutional matters requiring precision in terminology, in discussions of rights and benefits provided on the basis of "Indian" status and in statistical information collected using these categories." |
| 2002 | | Matthew Coon Come, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations and other chiefs across Canada rejected the First Nations Governance Act proposed in 2002 by then-Robert Nault, then the minister of Indian affairs, during the final term of then-Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. Coon Come said the proposed FNGA intended to reform the Indian Act, was paternalistic. Margaret Swan of Manitoba's Southern Chiefs' Organization said that one of the omissions on the part of the federal government in the process was bypassing the elected leadership of First Nations communities. When Prime Minister Paul Martin assumed office in 2003, he abandoned the legislation. |
| 2005 | 29 December | During the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Alberta and Saskatchewan in 2005, provincial and federal ministers denied First Nation leaders private audience with the monarch – something they have had since the 1600s. Land claim disputes, as well as a perceived intervention of the Crown into aboriginal affairs threatened relationships between The Canadian Crown and Aboriginal peoples. |
| 2005 | | The First Ministers Conference on Aboriginal Affairs which included then-Prime Minister Paul Martin, the premiers and aboriginal leaders, held their first meetings in Kelowna on 24–25 November 2005 with then-Prime Minister Paul Martin. They proposed a five-year, "$5-billion plan to improve the lives of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples." What came to be called the Kelowna Accord, consisted of a series of agreements between the Government of Canada, First Ministers of the Provinces, Territorial Leaders, and the leaders of five national Aboriginal organizations regarding proposed improvements in Aboriginal education, employment, and living conditions through a five-year "$5-billion plan." Although endorsed by Martin, it was not endorsed by his successor, then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper. |
| 2004 | | Justice David R. Wright's "explosive" report of the 20-month inquiry into the death by hypothermia of Saulteaux First Nations teenager Neil Stonechild on 25 November 1990, was published in 2004. As a result of the inquiry and the Wright's report Saskatoon police began to use "GPS and video surveillance in cruisers". An "independent body" to investigate complaints was created. Lawrence Joseph, then vice-chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations said in 2015, that, "This process has torn down walls and fences. It has built bridges in our society." The Saskatoon StarPhoenix produced an in-depth 2004 series in the referred to the Stonechild Effect. |
| 2006 | | In 2006, a court-approved Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the largest class action in Canada's history was reached with implementation to begin in September 2007. Crawford Class Action was the court-appointed administrator. Various measures to address the legacy of Indian Residential Schools included a $20 million Commemoration Fund for national and community commemorative projects, $1.9 billion for the Common Experience Payment, Independent Assessment Process, $60 million for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to document and preserve the experiences of survivors, Healing Support such as Resolution Health Support Worker Program and $125 million for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. The IRSSA offered former students blanket compensation through the Common Experience Payment which averaged lump-sum payment of $28,000. Payments were higher for more serious cases of abuse. The CEP, a component of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, "part of an overall holistic and comprehensive response to the Indian residential school legacy." The CEP recognized "the experience of living at an Indian Residential School and its impacts. All former students who resided at a recognized Indian Residential School and were alive on 30 May 2005 were eligible for the CEP. This include First Nations, Métis, and Inuit former students." "To benefit former students and families: $125 million to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation for healing programmes; $60 million for truth and reconciliation to document and preserve the experiences of survivors; and $20 million for national and community commemorative projects." |
| 2007 | 13 September | The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the General Assembly on Thursday, 13 September 2007, by a majority of 144 states in favour, 4 votes against and 11 abstentions. |
| 2008 | May | The Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples submitted their interim report entitled "Honouring the Spirit of Modern Treaties: Closing the Loopholes: Interim Report Special Study on the implementation of comprehensive land claims agreements in Canada". The Committee called for the replacement of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada "with a direct institutional role between the federal Crown and Aboriginal peoples as partners." |
| 2008 | 2 June | The Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a truth and reconciliation commission was launched. |
| 2008 | March | Indigenous leaders and church officials embarked on a multi-city "Remembering the Children" tour to promote the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. |
| 2008 | 20 October | Justice Justice Harry LaForme, chair of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission resigned, claiming "the commission was on the verge of paralysis and doomed to failure". He cited an "incurable problem" with the other two commissioners — Claudette Dumont-Smith and Jane Brewin Morley — whom he said "refused to accept his authority as chairman and were disrespectful." |
| 2009 | 12 February 2009 | The report of the Davies Commission Inquiry into the Death of Frank Paul entitled "Alone and Cold", was published. Commissioner William H. Davies led the inquiry into 5 or 6 December 1998 death in Downtown Eastside Vancouver, British Columbia of Frank Joseph Paul who was born on 21 July 1951 on the Mi'kmaq Elsipogtog First Nation, New Brunswick. The inquiry began on 10 August 2007. According to the report, on a cold December night Paul was arrested by the Vancouver Police, where "a sergeant at the city drunk tank refused to take him in, and Paul was dragged to a police wagon and then dumped in the alley, where he died of hypothermia". |
| 2009 | 15 October | The Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission was relaunched by then-Governor General Michaëlle Jean with Justice Murray Sinclair, an Ojibway-Canadian judge, First Nations lawyer, was the chair. |
| 2010 | 12 November | Canada officially endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples but maintained its position that UNDRIP was 'aspirational'. |
| 2011 | | At the first anniversary of Canada's adoption of UNDRIP, Chief William Commanda, Anishinabek spiritual leader, was honoured for his work that was "key not only in the adoption of the U.N. declaration, but in all the work leading up to it throughout the last 25 years" |
| 2011 | | In 2011, the federal department responsible for First Nations, Inuit, and Metis affairs was renamed Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development. |
| 2011 | December | Wataynikaneyap Power was established as a First Nation-led company that would "design, permit, construct, own and operate a 230 kV transmission line" which would provide "additional grid connection" to Pickle Lake. The township, which is north of Thunder Bay, is the most northerly community in Ontario with year-round access by road via Highway 599, the only access road to the town from the south. The 3 February 2011 Ministry of Energy Directive and the Ministry's 23 November 2010 Long Term Energy Plan supported the construction of this transmission line as phase one of a two part process, to improve the connectivity of remote First Nation communities. The "second phase would extend the grid north of Pickle Lake to service the remote communities." A 6 December news release said that "significant pre-development work" was completed. The new transmission network will replace the polluting and expensive diesel generators that are used in remote Northwestern Ontario communities. Twenty First Nations communities are equal owners of Wataynikaneyap Power. Goldcorp had "provided early development funding" and had partnered with the First Nation communities from 2010 to 2015. |
| 2013 | February | The 158-page report by former Supreme Court Judge, Frank Iacobucci's entitled "First Nations Representation on Ontario Juries" was released in February 2013. The report was a result of a year-long investigation on the relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Ontario justice system, According to Tanya Talaga, the report described a "justice system "in crisis" for aboriginals, particularly in Northern Ontario." Iacobucci said that the "underrepresentation of individuals living on reserves on Ontario’s jury roll" was a symptom of justice system in crisis. He said that there is a broader set of "systemic issues that are at the heart of the current dysfunctional relationship between Ontario’s justice system and aboriginal peoples in this province. It is these broad problems that must be tackled if we are to make any significant progress in dealing with the underrepresentation of First Nations individuals on juries." In response to Iacobucci's 2013 report, in 2015, the Attorney General of Ontario, created a new portfolio, the assistant deputy attorney general, responsible for "aboriginal issues". Lawyer Kimberly Murray, a graduate of Osgoode Law School, whose father is Mohawk and whose mother is Irish, was named as lead of the team of 17 to coordinate with Ontario's ministries and departments. |
| 2014 | | Canadian author and journalist Writer Richard Wagamese, an Ojibwe from the Wabaseemoong Independent Nations, published his novel Medicine Walk, the winner of the 2015 Banff Mountain Book Festival Grand Award. In The New York Times, the novelist Liam Callanan wrote that the novel "feels less written than painstakingly etched into something more permanent than paper". |
| 2015 | June | The Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission was completed in June 2015. It included 94 calls to action. This included the ratification of UNDRIP as one of its national "calls to action" in its final report. |
| 2016 | | Lisa Monchalin, who graduated with a PhD in Criminology at the University of Ottawa on 3 June 2012, was the first Aboriginal woman in Canada to do so. |
| 2016 | September | The Government of Canada under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau established the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls" in September 2016 in response to repeated calls of indigenous groups, other activists, and NGOss to investigate missing and murdered Indigenous women. By 16 February 2018, more than "697 families and survivors" had participated in the MMIWG inquiry's "Truth Gathering Process" by sharing stories" of violence, including murder, against Indigenous women and girls with about 600 more registered to participate in community hearings. The mandate of the Commissioners of the National Inquiry Truth Gathering is to "examine and report on the systemic causes of all forms of violence against Indigenous women, girls and LGBTQ2S people in Canada by looking at patterns and underlying factors. The mandate also includes examining institutional practices and policies implemented in response to violence experienced by Indigenous women and girls, including examining police investigation practices and responses, as part of this public investigation." |
| 2016 | 10 May | At the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New YorkCarolyn Bennett announced that Canada intended to fully adopt and implement UNDRIP "in accordance with the Canadian Constitution." Bennett attended the conference with then-Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould. Bennett said that "Through Section 35 of its Constitution, Canada has a robust framework for the protection of Indigenous rights...By adopting and implementing the declaration, we are excited that we are breathing life into Section 35 and recognizing it as a full box of rights for Indigenous Peoples in Canada." |
| 2017 | December | On 1 December 2017 the "Supreme Court of Canada rejected the land plan proposed by the Yukon government land plan that would have opened the Peel Watershed, a pristine wilderness about the size of of Nova Scotia" to "mining and gas development". A "coalition made up of three First Nations and a conservation group gathered in Whitehorse" had argued to protect the water shed. |
| 2017 | 15 June | The National Gallery of Canada opened its new exhibition for the 150th anniversary of Confederation. NGC Director Marc Mayer, said the exhibition was "a strong affirmation of our commitment to tell these stories together, and never again apart." Greg Hill from the Grand River First Nation, who is the NGC's Audain Curator of Indigenous Art was one of a team of curators preparing the exhibitions. |
| 2017 | 14 July 2017 | The Working Group of Ministers on the Review of Laws and Policies Related to Indigenous Peoples, a Cabinet working group chaired by Jody Wilson-Raybould, responsible for reviewing federal laws and policies that impact the rights of Indigenous peoples. adopted 10 Principles respecting the Government of Canada's relationship with Indigenous peoples to guide their work. Those Principles released on 14 July 2017, which were the result of consultation with Indigenous groups and experts, "establish a clear, transparent foundation for reconciliation based on recognition" and "bring a new direction and standard to how government officials must work and act in partnership with Indigenous peoples to respect Indigenous rights and to implement the UN Declaration." John Borrows, the Canada Research Chair in the University of Victoria's Indigenous Law at the Faculty of Law said that these principles are "good for our economy and democracy: Indigenous economic activity generates money that is spent in our towns and cities, and Indigenous democratic participation draws more people and ideas into public life." |
| 2017 | 28 August | During the 29th Canadian Ministry, under then Minister Jane Philpott, the Canadian federal government created two Ministers of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet responsible for overseeing Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada. One of the new positions, the Indigenous Services Canada was created on 28 August 2017 took over the management of health, clean water, and other services to reserves and other First Nations communities from the former Indigenous and Northern Affairs portfolio. |
| 2017 | 16 September 2017 | The Minister of Indigenous Services Jane Philpott, said that "Canada's First Nations people are 'disproportionately affected' by the opioid crisis." |
| 2018 | 2 February | On 2 February 2018 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Williams Lake Indian Band was "wrongfully displaced from its village lands in the 1860s, and the Colony of British Columbia allowed settlers to take up their lands". |
| 2018 | 9 February | On 9 February 2018 in the case of the Crown vs Stanley at the Court of Queen's Bench Saskatchewan presided by Saskatchewan Chief Justice Martel D. Popescul, an all-white jury acquitted local Battleford, Saskatchewan farmer Gerald Stanley, who had been accused of second-degree murder of 22-year-old Colten Boushie, a resident of the Cree Red Pheasant First Nation. that took place on Stanley's farm, near Biggar, Saskatchewan, on 9 August 2016. Stanley shot Boushie "in the back of the head at point blank range" as Boushie sat in the passenger seat of a Ford Escape on Stanley's property. Clint Wuttunee, Chief of the Red Pheasant First Nation, called the verdict "absolutely perverse". In the trial, Stanley's attorney Scott Spencer said there was "no evidence" that Stanley intentionally killed Boushie. Stanley's son had smashed the windshield of the SUV with a hammer. The jury accepted that the gunshot that killed Boushie was "hang fire" resulting from a "delay between the pulling of the trigger and the discharge". Following the announcement of the acquittal, about 1,000 people, including the mayor of Saskatoon, Charlie Clark, gathered at a rally at the Saskatoon court house to show support for Boushie's family and to express frustration with the acquittal. Other rallies and vigils took place in Battleford, Winnipeg, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Toronto, and Ottawa to challenge the verdict. In response to the verdict, Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations's Vice-chief David Pratt, challenged the jury selection system, saying that "defence counsel used peremptory challenges to block every potential juror who appeared to be Indigenous". Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement said, "I am going to say we have come to this point as a country far too many times. Indigenous people across this country are angry, they're heartbroken and I know Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians alike know that we have to do better." Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said he would be meeting with Trudeau and with First Nations leadership. At a press conference hosted by Saskatoon Tribal Council, Mayor Clark described the event as a "defining moment for this community and this country". Many chiefs across Saskatoon, including Northern communities, traveled to Saskatoon to attend the rally. |
| 2018 | 14 February | Hundreds of marchers took part in the annual 14 February Women's Memorial March to commemorate missing and murdered Indigenous women. The first march was held in 1992 in response to the 1991 murder of a Coast Salish woman in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. DTES, which is also nicknamed "Skid Row", is known for its social activism and for high levels of drug use that has led to overdoses, specifically fentanyl, poverty, severe mental illness released their 208-page report entitled "Broken Trust: Indigenous People and the Thunder Bay Police Service" which concluded that TBPS needed to "improve its relationship with Indigenous communities" and that it "needs to "ensure that its investigations are timely, effective and non-discriminatory." |
| 2019 | 14 January | Seamus O'Regan replaced Jane Philpott as Minister of Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs. |
| 2019 | April | In April 2019 chair of the UN permanent forum on Indigenous issues, Mariam Wallet Med Aboubakrine, Assembly of First Nations's Perry Bellegarde, Amnesty International Canada's Alex Neve and former president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Rosemarie Kuptana, called on the Senate to pass Bill C-262. By 1 April, Bill C-262 was in second reading at the Senate. The next stage if it passes the Senate, is the committee stage for study. According to Aboubakrine, if the Senate passes Bill C-262, "Canada would be the first country in the world to harmonize its federal laws with UNDRIP. |
| 2019 | 21 June | According to Minister of Indigenous Services, "Bill C-92: An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families received Royal Assent." |
