Indigenous land claims in Canada

rdf:langString Indigenous land claims in Canada

rdf:langString Indigenous peoples in Canada demand to have their land rights and their Aboriginal titles respected by the Canadian government. These outstanding land claims are some of the main political issues facing Indigenous peoples today. The Government of Canada started recognizing Indigenous land claims in 1973. Federal policy divided the claims in two categories: comprehensive claims and specific claims. Comprehensive claims deal with Indigenous rights of Métis, First Nations and Inuit communities that did not sign treaties with the Government of Canada. Specific claims, on the other hand, are filed by First Nations communities over Canada's breach of the Numbered Treaties, the Indian Act or any other agreements between the Crown and First Nations. Although these land claims have often been problematic there has been a shift in terms of how the Canadian Government views these claims. This shift started in the early 1980's due to the ideology that these claims would be an effective approach to improve socio-economic circumstances for Indigenous Canadians.