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nunuvut is created
Nunavut is a new territory in Canada with a majority Inuit population and Inuktitut and English as its official languages. Politically, Nunavut has its own legislative assembly, which has powers equivalent to those of any other federal territory, and its own Supreme Court. -
The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples
The Commission was established in 1991 in the wake of the Oka Crisis. Four of the seven commissioners appointed were Aboriginal people. The conclusion of the report was the need for a change in the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. it would respect Aboriginal cultures and values, the history behind Aboriginal nationhood and the inherent right to Aboriginal self-determination. It set out 440 recommendations over a 20-year plan to establish this new relationship. -
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission releases its final report
The commission looked at activities alleged to have occurred at residential schools, as well as the negative impacts of the schools' stated aim to assimilate First Nations children. The commission held a series of national events in Winnipeg, Inuvik, Halifax, Saskatoon, Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, and Vancouver. Its final report identified 94 "Calls to Action" to "redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation." -
Lavell case
Section 12 of the Indian Act is repealed as a result of the Lavell case at the Supreme Court. Native women can now marry a non-native and keep their status and rights to own or inherit family land; they can also participate in band councils, political and social affairs of their communities. -
Meech Lake Accord
Elijah Harper, a Cree member of the Manitoba Legislature, refused to support the Meech Lake Accord on the grounds that the revision to the Canadian Constitution did not recognize Aboriginal rights. His action defeated the accord and sent the provinces and the federal government back to the discussion table. The Meech Lake Accord was an attempt by the federal government to win Quebec's consent to the revised Constitution. Quebec did not sign onto the Constitution in 1982. -
The Idle No More movement
The Idle No More movement uses social media to call on “all people to join in a peaceful revolution, to honour Indigenous sovereignty, and to protect the land and water.” Protests such as circle dances and rail blockades are staged across the country on a wide variety of issues. -
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Canada endorses the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which it had opposed since its adoption in 2007 -
Mohawk burial ground
Mohawk warriors set up barricades to protect their land from a golf course expansion near Oka, Quebec. The land is a Mohawk burial ground. Violence erupts between Mohawk and provincial police. The army is called in. The golf course is never built. -
“safe and comfy” school
Shannen Koostachin, a 14-year old girl from Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario meets with Indian Affairs minister Chuck Strahl to demand a new “safe and comfy” school for her community. She is turned down. The school is scheduled to be finished for the 2013-14 school year. -
housing development
Members of the Six Nations put up barricades around a housing development near Caledonia, Ontario to demand recognition of their land title that was taken away in the 1840s. The Ontario government buys the housing development and put a ban on construction in place. Some land claims are settled in 2008. In 2011, the province awards local residents and businesses $20 million in settlement of a class-action lawsuit for the disruption to business caused by the protest. land claims remain unresolved -
land claim
For the first time in their history, the Nisga'a people sign a treaty with the governments of British Columbia and Canada settling a land claim on more than 2000 square kilometers of land. -
Ipperwash Provincial Park
After decades of letter-writing campaigns, members of the Stoney Point and Kettle First Nations enter Ipperwash Provincial Park in Ontario to demand that the government return the land that it occupied in 1942 for a training camp and promised to return after the war. Protester Dudley George was shot dead and two others injured by the OPP. The land was returned in 2007.