First Nations were self-governing long before Europeans arrived in Canada. In 1876, the Indian Act dismantled traditional governance systems and imposed strict regulations on Indigenous peoples’ lives. Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, recognizes that Indigenous Peoples have an inherent, constitutionally-protected right to self-government – a right to manage their own affairs.
Self-determination is a core principal of self-government, the BC treaty negotiations process and is also reflected in the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (PDF).
Under the BC treaty negotiations process, self-government will be established, and administered through the treaty. Self-government provisions may include education, language, culture, police services, health care, social services, housing, property rights, child welfare, and other provisions agreed to by the three parties. A First Nation implementing a modern treaty will be self-governing and will have a constitution and law-making authority over treaty land and provisions of public services. Treaty sets out how the First Nations governance interacts with the Canadian Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms will apply to First Nations’ governments as it does to all other governments in Canada.
For more on self-government, see Why Treaties: Self-Government.