The Indian Act ("An Act respecting Indians"), R.S., 1951, c. I-5, is a Canadian statute that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves. The Indian Act was enacted in 1876 by the Parliament of Canada under the provisions of Section 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867, which provides Canada's federal government exclusive authority to legislate in relation to "Indians and Lands Reserved for Indians". The Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, which is responsible for the act, is administered by the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.
The act defines who is an "Indian" and contains certain legal rights and legal disabilities for registered Indians. The rights exclusive to Indians in the Indian Act are beyond legal challenge under the Constitution Act, 1982. Section 25 of the Constitution Act, 1982 provides that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms shall not be interpreted as negating aboriginal, treaty or other rights of Canada's aboriginal peoples.
Read more about Indian Act: Status, Amendments and Bill C-31, Section 88, Case Law
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“The next forenoon we went to Oldtown.... The Indian is said to cultivate the vices rather than the virtues of the white man. Yet this village was cleaner than I expected, far cleaner than such Irish villages as I have seen.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)