The Indian Act is a Canadian federal law that governs in matters pertaining to Indian status, Indian Bands and Indian reserves.
The Indian Act authorizes the Canadian federal government to regulate and administer in the affairs and day-to-day lives of registered Indians and reserve communities and is accepted as being a highly discriminatory and paternalistic piece of legislation.
Through the Indian Act, the federal government maintains ultimate authority over Indian Band governance and use of reserve lands, as well as the determination of who is an “Indian” in accordance with the Act, through Indian status as defined by the Act.
While the Indian Act has undergone numerous amendments since it was first passed in 1876, today it largely retains its original form and is a foundational part of a long history of assimilation policies that were intended to terminate the cultural, social, economic, and political distinctiveness of Aboriginal peoples by absorbing them into mainstream Canadian life and values.
*definition adapted in part from Indigenous Foundations, UBC