First Nations Self-Governance in Canada. History Essay.

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First Nations Self-Governance in Canada
The indigenous people of Canada comprise of the First Nations, Inuit, and Metis, known to be the original inhabitants of the land. The group has a rich history, which stretches to periods before the arrival of the Europeans into the country. Canada’s 2016 Census revealed that the indigenous population formed more than 1.6 million people, which was 4.9 percent of the country’s population (Statistics Canada). Although the individual communities have been threatened by several factors like the colonial forces and the rampant immigration, they have shaped the country’s development, and continued to grow and excel. The groups have continued to assert their influence through persistence in pursuing self-governance. While the federal government has been reluctant to grant them this wish, the members have not relented in their push. The result has been development of several models of self-governance that the group has tried to use to advance their economic and social interests.
The Aboriginal Groups
The First Nations are the predominant among the indigenous groups and occupy the southern part of the Arctic Circle. The Inuit occupy the Arctic area and are distinct. The Metis, who are also distinct, came into existence following an interaction between the First Nations and the European (Christie 51). These indigenous groups have practiced self-governance for many years even before the European and other settlers invaded the country. These forms of governance showed the economic, social and geographic diversity of these individuals, together with their cultural practices and spiritual beliefs. The entry of the colonial governments resulted into a reorganization in their system of governance. The foreigners formed treaties and alliances, and engaged in trade with the indigenous groups. Over the years, these relationships were broken by the laws that were later formed based on the patronizing nature of the colonial masters. Among the laws passed includes the Indian Act, which was drafted and passed in 1876 and continues to guide the governance of the First Nations in the country to date.
Self-Governance Concept
Indigenous or Aboriginal self-government refers to the proposals that advocated for more powers to the indigenous governments that governed the aboriginals. The proposals ranged from calls to give the Aboriginal governments executive powers synonymous with the local governments, to the demands by the indigenous governments to be recognized as being sovereign, with an ability to participate in nation-to-nation transactions. This concept of self-governance began in 1969, following a proposal by the White Paper on Indian Policy to abolish band governments, and transfer its duties to the provincial governments. The duty of the band government was to deliver social services on reserves through social service programs. Social programs included all government plans that were formulated to help citizens who were not covered by the government provisions. Such an arrangement would disadvantage the aboriginals and in response, they came together to form national political organizations that would spearhead the opposition. These political organizations gave birth to the concept of Indigenous self-government.
In 1995, the Liberal government established the Inherent Right of Self-Government Policy, which advocated for self-governance as an inherent right. However, the policy advocated for a model where power is distributed in the same way that the Crown distributes authorities to the communities. The model directed that people form bands or groups and then sign a treaty with the government to be expunged from the Indian Act structures. Following the directive of the policy, twenty-two self-government agreements had been drafted and signed by the federal government as of 2016. Eighteen of those agreements were composed of a comprehensive land claim agreement, also known as the modern treaty.
The First Nations Land Management (FNLM) Model
One model of self-governance that the government of Canada granted the First Nations is the First Nations Land Management (FNLM) Regime. Initial efforts towards establishment of this regime began in 1994 when 13 chiefs of the First Nation created a framework agreement, and presented it to the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. The framework was a request to be allowed to manage their lands outside the Indian Act. The Framework Agreement was signed in 1996, and stated that a First Nation had all the rights and powers over their land. It was later ratified in 1999 where it had 14 signatories of First Nations (Fligg & Derek 4). Whereas First Nations have more powers to control any processes that take place over their land, the land has remained in reserve status as captured in the Indian Act. Under this act, the titles of all reserve land in trust is under the custody of the Federal Crown. Despite this status, First Nations have continued to enjoy some benefits that came with their authority over the land. Some of the benefits have included restriction towards federal expropriation of the land, and the ability to leverage on properties. However, the act has not been devoid of challenges, like inability to make some full decisions on the land, and the lack of sufficient funds to develop laws and policies to govern operations on the land. These pros and cons of the new system are discussed below.
Pros of the FNLM model
This model of governance has several benefits as well as disadvantages to the First Nations like the Nunavut. One of the benefits is that contributed to economic benefits to the indigenous populations by allowing them to collect land revenues directly except in cases that involved oil and gas royalties. After collecting these revenues, the communities are then able to decide about how they want to use the land. This ability to make the decision on their own land grants them greater authority and economic control over their transactions.
The second advantage of this self-management model is that it gives the community increased efficie...