Prior to the acquisition of the land by European empires or the Canadian state after 1867, First Nations (Indian), Inuit, and Métis peoples had a wide variety of polities within their countries, from band societies, to tribal chiefdoms, multinational confederacies, to representative democracies (in the case of the Métis-led Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia).
[3] For the Métis and Inuit, self-government was replaced by integration into the Canadian polity: these people could vote in the standard municipal, provincial, and federal elections as citizens of Canada.
When a self-government treaty is implemented many of the restrictions of the Indian Act are lifted, allowing Indigenous communities different freedoms and forms of community-based control that were previously regulated.
[6] Treaty provisions may include control over education, healthcare institutions, administration, land development for revenue, and decision-making authority.
[5] This led to Aboriginal hostility to the agreement and saw Manitoban MLA Elijah Harper, a Registered Cree Indian, help to defeat the accord.
The Conservative government announced its Community-Based Self-Government (CBSG) policy in 1986, to "enable negotiation of new Crown - Aboriginal relationships outside of the Indian Act" on a community-by-community basis.
The suggested purpose of this agreement was to further “academic excellence” and to push outside the bounds of the Indian Act by developing authority over their community's education.
[13] Some bands, rejecting the idea that they must negotiate with the Government of Canada in order to exercise their right to self-government, have acted unilaterally.
[6] These agreements are grounded in Canada’s collaborative self-government fiscal policy, which tries to promote a respectful, co-operative partnership with Indigenous governments and communities.
[8] Indigenous self-government treaties also establish which laws are under or shared between levels of governance (Federal, Provincial, or First Nations jurisdictions).
[6] The Federal Government has also taken steps to include non-Indigenous individuals who live on First Nations land in the decision making process.