What we support and defend

[ganulv]

The two major groupings, "North American Indian" and "Metis", are treated differently legally. Within the "North American Indian" grouping, there are "registered" ("status") and "non-registered" ("non-status") Indians - with very, very different rights under the Indian Act (Wiki; Text of Act), especially the 1985 C-31 Amendment (from the Wiki):

My friend Sarah’s dissertation gets into the whys and hows of some of that.

In practical Canadian politics (where votes in the Commons count - and the Crown don't), Labrador has one Innu (not Inuit), Peter Penashue (Conservative); and Quebec, an Innu, Jonathan Genest-Jourdain (NDP) and a Cree, Romeo Saganash (NDP).

Canadian electoral politics are only one aspect of native affairs, of course. And the Crown does have a dog in the broader fight.

Labrador has one Innu (not Inuit)

Just say Montagnais.

Is the view better looking from Turtle Mountain to north of the border - or, vice versa - or, are both views equally clouded in different ways ? Bonita Lawrence (a Mi’kmaw) sees both the US and Canadian systems as part of the same problem:

The situations are homologous, with roots in British colonial policy. As is the existence of the FATA in Pakistan, amongst others.