Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that can help answer the question.
Query: Does Canada have an Indian Affairs branch of government?
The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND), referred to by its applied title under the Federal Identity Program as Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), (French: Affaires autochtones et du Nord Canada, AANC), is the department of the government of Canada with responsibility for policies relating to Aboriginal peoples in Canada, that comprise the First Nations,[2][3] Inuit,[4] and Métis.[5]
The ruling party or governing party or political party in a democratic parliamentary system is the current political party or coalition of the majority in parliament, that administers the affairs of state. In many other democratic republic countries, the ruling party is the party of the elected president that is in charge of the executive branch of government. Within a parliamentary system, the majority in the legislature also controls the executive branch of government, thus leaving no possibility of opposing parties concurrently occupying the executive and legislative branches of government, such as in an American style presidential system where the party of the president does not necessarily also have a legislative majority. 
A single "band" (First Nations government) may control one reserve or several, in addition some reserves are shared between multiple bands. In 2003, the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs stated there were 2,300 reserves in Canada, comprising . According to Statistics Canada in 2011, there are more than 600 First Nations/Indian bands in Canada and 3,100 Indian reserves across Canada. Examples include the Sturgeon Lake First Nation, which like many bands, has only one reserve, Sturgeon Lake Indian Reserve No. 101. Musqueam No. 2 and No. 4, and Sea Island Indian Reserve No. 3 are governed by the Musqueam Indian Band, one of many examples where a single government is responsible for more than one reserve. In 2003, 60 percent of status Indians lived on reserves.
The Northern Development part of the department has its origins in the Department of the Interior, a body created by then Prime Minister John A. Macdonald for the purpose of administering the Dominion Lands Act of 1872. When the Department of the Interior dissolved in 1936 (with the Natural Resources Acts transferring control over natural resources to the Prairie provinces), Indian Affairs fell under the purview of the Department of Mines and Resources. However, the need for social and health-care services in the North led to the establishment of the Northern Administration and Lands branch in 1951, which led to the creation of the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources in 1953. This became the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in 1966.[17][18] Under the Federal Identity Program, the department is known as Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada.
Primary, secondary and tertiary education in Canada is the responsibility of each provincial government. The federal government department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada delivers education service to First Nations.
In the 1980s, Penner was Chair of the Standing Committee on Indian Affairs and Northern Development. The Committee released a report on Native Self-governance in 1983. Often referred to as the "Penner Report", it recommended the recognition of First Nations people as a distinct, constitutionally protected order of government within Canada and with a full range of government powers. The Report recommended that the provinces be removed from any jurisdiction concerning Aboriginal affairs and that a government structure for First Nations be regarded as the equivalent to a province, with financial support from the federal government in an arrangement that would be recognised in the Constitution of Canada. While the Liberal government of the day tabled in the House of Commons a relatively favourable response on March 5, 1984, a few months later Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau had resigned, John Turner became Prime Minister, Indian Affairs Minister John Munro was not named by Turner as a Minister, and in September 1984, the Conservative Government of Brian Mulroney swept into power.
In 1755, the British Crown established the British Indian Department. The Indian Governors General held control of Indian Affairs, but usually delegated much of their responsibility to a series of Civil Secretaries. In 1860, the responsibility for Indian affairs was transferred from the government of Great Britain to the Province of Canada and the responsibility for Indian Affairs was given to the Crown Lands Department Commissions Responsible for Indian Affairs.
The Commission of Inquiry investigated the evolution of the relationship among Aboriginal peoples (First Nations, Inuit and Métis), the Government of Canada, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and part of the Culture of Canada as a whole. It proposed specific solutions, rooted in domestic and international experience, to the problems which have plagued those relationships and which confront Aboriginal peoples today. The Commission examined many issues which it deems to be relevant to any or all of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada. The study of the historical relations between the government and Aboriginal people, in order to determine the possibility of Aboriginal self-government, and the legal status of previous agreements that included, the Royal Proclamation of 1763, the Indian Act, the Numbered treaties and Aboriginal case law.
Funded under the Indian Act by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, a branch of the federal government, the schools were run by churches of various denominations – about 60% by Roman Catholics, and 30% by the Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada, along with its pre-1925 predecessors, Presbyterian, Congregationalist and Methodist churches.
Unikkausivut: Sharing Our Stories, an Inuit DVD boxset and website developed in collaboration with the Inuit Relations Secretariat of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.[27] Indian Agent (Canada) Bureau of Indian Affairs US government agency Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Australia Canadian federal budget and finical statements 2016 $15.348 B
Aboriginal peoples in Canada are defined in the "Constitution Act, 1982" as Indians, Inuit and Métis. 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). These were ignored or suppressed by the Government of Canada (federal government). 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. For the First Nations, the Government of Canada created the band system under the "Indian Act", which allowed First Nations people to vote in band elections but they could not vote in federal elections before 1960 unless they renounced their status as Registered Indians (a process referred to as enfranchisement). Band governments had very little authority, however; they exercised only whatever power was delegated to them by the Minister of Indian Affairs, and only had authority on the Indian reserves which represented a tiny proportion of their traditional territories.
After 1796, responsibility for Indian affairs in Upper Canada was assigned to the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. In 1800, responsibility for Indian affairs in Lower Canada was assigned to the Governor General of Canada. In 1816, responsibility was transferred to the Commander of the Armed Forces in North America. In practice, Indian affairs were managed and supervised through the offices of the Superintendent General of Indian Affairs and the offices of the Inspector General of the Department of Indian Affairs. Both these offices were abolished in 1828, and Major-General H.C. Darling took the position of Chief Superintendent of Indian Affairs, supervising the Indian Department.
The government of Canada has not acknowledged Pimicikamak's customary government in modern times. Its policy is that self-government is an inherent right of aboriginal peoples in Canada and that this right is recognized and affirmed by the Constitution of Canada. "The federal government supports the concept of self-government being exercised by Aboriginal nations or other larger groupings of Aboriginal people." but does not accept that an aboriginal people may exercise this right without first negotiating it. Negotiation and legislation of self-government can result in domestic, dependent status similar to that of Indian nations in the United States of America, whose governments are defined by Act of Congress. Canada has not generally accepted Pimicikamak's policy of exercising its inherent right.
The government of Canada prefers to deal with Cross Lake First Nation, a domestic, dependent, municipal form of government established by Act of Parliament. Under this federal legislation and the terms of various agreements, the Band Council acts as the agent of the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in delivering programs to Indians on reserve.
Since 1999, several Band Councils have taken and held office pursuant to the "Pimicikamak Election Law, 1999" instead of the federal legislation.
Unlike the Governor General or a Lieutenant-Governor, who are representatives of the Queen of Canada, Commissioners are not vice-regal representatives. They are appointed by the federal government as a delegate of cabinet. Under the federal statutes governing the territories, the Commissioners act in accordance with written instructions from the cabinet or the minister responsible (currently the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development).
In Canada, incorporated municipalities are creations of the provincial and territorial governments. They have no independent existence under the Constitution.
The responsibility for Indian Affairs and Northern Development rested with various government departments between 1873 and 1966. The Minister of the Interior also held the position of Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs after the Indian Affairs Department was established in 1880. In 1939, federal jurisdiction for Indian peoples was interpreted by the courts to apply to the Inuit. A revised Indian Act was passed in 1951.
From 1950 to 1965, the Indian Affairs portfolio was carried by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. On October 1, 1966, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development was created as a result of the Government Organization Act, 1966.[16] Effective June 13, 2011, the department began using the applied title Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada in addition to the legal name of the department.[17]
Until 2010 Environment Canada operated several different aircraft for their environmental studies. Although Environment Canada does not have a current fleet of aircraft it contracts other branches of the government to provide airborne research facilities.
The federal government's legislative responsibilities for Indians and Inuit derive from section 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867 and responsibility was given to the Secretary of State for the Provinces Responsible for Indian Affairs. In 1876, the Indian Act, which remains the major expression of federal jurisdiction in this area, was passed and a series of treaties[15] were concluded between Canada and the various Indian bands across the country.
Cardinal rose to national prominence in the late 1960s. In 1968, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau proclaimed Canada to be a "just society." However, after a promising round of consultations between the government of Canada and aboriginal leaders in which issues of Aboriginal and Treaty rights and the right of self-government were prominently discussed, Aboriginal people were outraged when Trudeau's Minister of Indian Affairs, the Hon. Jean Chrétien (later Prime Minister of Canada) introduced a "White Paper" which advocated the elimination of separate legal status for native people in Canada. The white paper amounted to an assimilation program which, if implemented, would have repealed the "Indian Act", transferred responsibility for Indian Affairs to the provinces and terminated the rights of Indians under the various treaties they had made with the Crown.
In Canada, the communities forming the Rainy Lake and River Bands of Saulteaux interacted with the Canadian government with Department of Indian Affairs (today, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada) through the Couchiching Agency, Fort Frances, Ontario, from 1871−1903, after which the agency became the Fort Frances Agency. Rainy River Bands at one time had a joint Indian reserve known as the "Wild Land 15M." The Rainy Lake Bands still have a joint reserve known as the Agency 1.
The Commissioner of Crown Lands was a member of the Executive Council for the Province of Canada responsible for administering the surveying and sale of Crown land, the forests, mines, and fisheries of the Province. From 1841 to 1867 the Department of Crown Lands was the biggest of the Province of Canada's departments. It assumed responsibility for mining in 1846, for fisheries in 1857, and for Indian Affairs in 1860. It functioned on a dual basis, with each branch divided into two separate sections, one for Upper Canada and one for Lower Canada. After Canadian Confederation in 1867, responsibility for provincial crown land and for natural resources was assigned to the provinces (Ontario and Quebec) while responsibility for fisheries and Indian Affairs were transferred to the new federal government.
Today's political organizations have resulted from interaction with European-style methods of government through the Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians. Aboriginal political organizations throughout Canada vary in political standing, viewpoints, and reasons for forming.[138] First Nations, Métis and Inuit negotiate with the Canadian Government through Indian and Northern Affairs Canada in all affairs concerning land, entitlement, and rights.[137] The First Nation groups that operate independently do not belong to these groups.[137]
In 2009 Indian & Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) announced cutbacks, to result in making Tribal Councils obsolete and discontinued as service agencies to First Nations or Band organizations. Funding allocations had been lowered annually for some time. Indian & Northern Affairs Canada believed that Tribal Councils were not meeting service obligations under the law. The department proposed streamlining the Tribal Council funding to send it directly to First Nations, the Métis, and Urban First Nation population centers. As of 2009 Indian & Northern Affairs Canada was revamping the Governance portion to fund Band Offices, Tribal Councils, and certain Non-profit First Nation organizations.
Jarvis was named Chief Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Upper Canada in 1837, replacing James Givins, who was becoming senile. During the Rebellion of 1837, Jarvis organised a group of volunteers to fight on the government's side; the group was named the "Queen's Rangers" in honour of his father's old unit, also called the Queen's Rangers, which had disbanded in 1802. In 1845 he was removed from his position as Chief Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Upper Canada. A three-man commission appointed to investigate complaints about the Department of Indian Affairs found substantial problems there. Witnesses to the commission testified about occurrences of bribery, fraud, religious discrimination and lack of interest in the welfare of the Indians under its supervision. To repay the government the money he had stolen from the Indian Department, Jarvis was forced to sell "Hazel Burn" to pay the £4000 that he owed the government. The estate was divided into town lots with a street through the tract. The street is now named Jarvis Street.
Indian agent is the title of a position in Canada mandated by the Indian Act of that country. An Indian agent was the chief administrator for Indian affairs in their respective districts, although the title now is largely in disuse in preference to "government agent". The powers of the Indian agent held sway over the lives of all First Nations people in their jurisdictions. Both Indian Act and government agent duties were fused in the original colonial title of gold commissioner, which encompassed both agencies as well as the duties of magistrate, policeman, coroner and surveyor.