A person’s legal status as an Indian, and specifically his or her status as defined by the Indian Act. It is not necessarily the same thing as status as an Indian under the Canadian CONSTITUTION or as status based on descent or “race”. The Indian Act’s complex rules on status are interpreted and applied by the REGISTRAR OF INDIAN MEMBERSHIP in Otta [..]

The amount of money that Parliament allots each year, out of public funds, for a particular purpose. An appropriation is given to the Department of Indian Affairs to fund its administration programs. This money is completely separate from band-owned TRUST FUNDS, even though both funds have until recently been managed by the Department. Appropriatio [..]

The process by which an Indian person or family gives up its INDIAN STATUS, or is forced to give it up, is called enfranchisement. The person receives a share of band moneys and sometimes of reserve land, but thereafter has no further rights as an Indian under the Indian Act. The term is now applied both to people who give up their status by choice [..]

The systems set up by federal and provincial law to survey and grant public lands. Three basic systems have been used in Canada, all of which affect the layout and ownership of Indian reserve lands: The SEIGNEURIAL SYSTEM of Quebec before 1854, in which grants are of relatively irregular size. They are arranged in ranges of lots, often in the “rive [..]

Relating to Indian or Inuit life before the coming of non-native people. Compare CONTACT.

The special rights of native people that arise out of their ABORIGINAL use and occupancy of territory. “ABORIGINAL title” is usually used to refer specifically to land rights. In practice however, it often also indicates closely connected matters such as rights to hunt, fish, and trap, and rights to use various other resources. See also CLAIM.

The breaking of an agreement, such as an Indian TREATY, by one of those who made it, or by a higher power. This term is used when breaking is, or may be, authorized by law. For example, the Migratory Birds Convention Treaty is said to abrogate the hunting rights provisions of some or all of the NUMBERED TREATIES.

A record held by the INDIAN LAND REGISTRY, listing all land dealings (“transactions”) on a particular Indian reserve, or in a particular region. Some abstracts, such as the Registry’s “Surrendered Land Leasing” abstracts, cover only a particular kind of transaction.

A legal undertaking by which someone accepts the terms of an existing agreement, such as an Indian TREATY. Bands who were not present at the signing of a TREATY sometimes “adhere” to it (that is, they sign short written adhesions) many years later. The adhesions often do not repeat all the words of the original agreement. Individual Indian people w [..]

A person who lives on someone else’s land for some time, who does not abandon it, and who is never removed by the owner is “in adverse possession” of the land. In some special situations this person can gain ownership of the land; that is, if he or she has been there long enough and has used the land in certain ways specified by law. See also PRESC [..]