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The Indian Act was first created in 1876. A new version was created in 1951. Since then, the Act has been revised several times. The main goal of the Act was to force First Nations peoples to lose their culture and become like Euro-Canadians. The Indian Act does not affect either the Métis or Inuit.

(This article is a plain-language summary of the Indian Act. If you are interested in reading about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry, Indian Act.)

John Mercer Johnson, lawyer, politician (born October 1818 in Liverpool, England; died 8 November 1868 in Chatham, NB).

Garth Howard Drabinsky, lawyer, entrepreneur (b at Toronto 27 Oct 1948).

John Mason, governor of the English colony in Newfoundland (b at King's Lynn, Eng 1586; d at London, Eng 1635). In 1615 he was appointed the second governor of the colony at Cuper's Cove (Cupids, Newfoundland), succeeding John GUY, and arrived in 1616 accompanied by his wife.

John Saunders, judge and politician (b at Virginia Beach, Virginia 1 June 1754; d at Fredericton, NB 24 May 1834). Saunders served with distinction in the Queen's Rangers during the American Revolutionary War, and later studied law in England.

​Ernest Adolphe Côté, MBE, soldier, civil servant and diplomat (born 12 June 1913 in Edmonton, Alberta; died 25 February 2015 in Ottawa, Ontario).

Andrew John Weaver, OBC, FRSC, climate scientist, leader of the BC Green Party 2015–20 (born 16 November 1961 in Victoria, BC). Andrew Weaver is a leading climate change researcher who made historic gains for the Green Party of British Columbia in his second career as a politician. In 2013, he was elected the province’s first Green MLA. In 2017, he led the Greens to three seats. After the 2017 election, he engineered a power-sharing deal with the BC New Democratic Party and toppled the Liberal government of Christy Clark to help John Horgan become premier.

The McIvor v. Canada case was about gender discrimination in section 6 of the 1985 Indian Act, which deals with Indian status. Sharon McIvor — a woman who regained status rights after the passing of Bill C-31 in 1985 — was not able to pass on those rights to her descendants in the same way that a man with status could. In her case against the federal government, the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that section 6 did, in fact, deny McIvor’s equality rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In response to this case, the federal government introduced new legislation (Bill C-3) in 2011 to counter gender discrimination in the Indian Act.

In 1982, Canada fully broke from its colonial past and “patriated” its Constitution. It transferred the country’s highest law, the British North America Act (which was renamed the Constitution Act, 1867), from the authority of the British Parliament to Canada’s federal and provincial legislatures. The Constitution was also updated with a new amending formula and a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. These changes occurred after a fierce, 18-month political and legal struggle that dominated headlines and the agendas of every government in the country.

Judy Rebick, feminist, social activist, author, broadcaster, public speaker (born 15 August 1945 in Reno, Nevada). Judy Rebick has championed the rights of women, minorities and the working class since the 1960s. She was a member of the NDP’s Waffle caucus and a pro-choice spokesperson for the Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics. She rose to national prominence as the president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (1990–93) and as the host of CBC TV programs (1994–2000). From 2002 to 2010, she was the Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy at Ryerson University. She is also a best-selling author and was the founding publisher of rabble.ca.

Tilly Jean Rolston, Canadian politician (born 23 February 1887 in Vancouver, BC; died 12 October 1953 in Vancouver, BC). Rolston was best known for her service as education minister for the province of British Columbia in the Social Credit government of W.A.C. Bennett in the early 1950s. She has the distinction of being the second woman cabinet minister elected in that province, but the first with a portfolio in all of Canada. Rolston was instrumental in developing a new financing formula for the funding of BC’s public schools, and also instituted the province’s first sex education curriculum. She is noted for being the first woman in British Columbia to receive a state funeral upon her death.

Kennedy Stewart, politician, academic, mayor of Vancouver 2018–22 (born 8 November 1966 in Halifax, Nova Scotia). Kennedy Stewart served as a Member of Parliament for Burnaby-Douglas and Burnaby South and was a member of the federal NDP caucus. He is also an associate professor on leave at Simon Fraser University’s School of Public Policy. Stewart was elected the 40th mayor of Vancouver on 20 October 2018. He presided over a gridlocked and dysfunctional city council and lost his re-election bid on 15 October 2022.

John Babington Macaulay Baxter, lawyer, politician, premier and chief justice of NB (b at Saint John 16 Feb 1868; d there 27 Dec 1946).

Robert White, OC, labour leader (born 28 April 1935 in Upper Lands, Northern Ireland; died 19 February 2017 in Kincardine, ON). Among his many achievements as a union organizer, White was the founding president of the Canadian Auto Workers union. His autobiography, Hard Bargains: My Life on the Line, was published in 1987.

Jonathan Odell, doctor, clergyman, spy, poet, politician (b at Newark, NJ 25 Sept 1737; d at Fredericton 25 Nov 1818). He was trained in medicine but entered the Church of England ministry.

John Babbitt McNair, lawyer, politician, judge, premier of NB 1940-52 (b at Andover, NB 20 Nov 1889; d at Fredericton 14 June 1968). First elected MLA for York in 1935, he was attorney general in the DYSART government and president of the provincial Liberal Party.

John Angus MacLean, farmer, politician, premier of PEI 1979-81 (b at Lewes, PEI 15 May 1914). After serving in WWII, MacLean returned to PEI and contested unsuccessfully the federal elections of 1945 and 1948.