Where do Indigenous people actually get their money?
Graphic by the Native Students Union.
You — hardworking Canadian citizen, making a steady check but barely getting by. Do you feel peeved, perhaps slightly annoyed when you look down at your paystub and see our government took their cut yet again?
Your taxes, your income, your livelihood! Where is it all going?
‘The mouths of indians with an insatiable appetite for government handouts, I bet.’
Why yes, my mouth is wide open, and all of your grievances are eaten, processed, and what’s leftover is the indigestible truth: Indigenous people aren’t funded by your tax money.
But if Canadian taxes don’t pay for Indigenous communities’ needs, where does it come from?
The answer is yours truly — from Indigenous people and our stolen land.
During the 1800s, colonial settlements were growing rapidly, causing the dispossession of our land, legitimized by the Indian Act and treaties between The Crown and Indigenous communities.
The leftover earth was developed, sold, and industrialized. According to the treaties and multiple First Nations legislative acts, a portion of the wealth generated from the land and these processes must be shared with the its’ rightful caretakers.
To systemically fulfill this obligation, the Indian Land Management Fund was established in 1858, and held individual accounts funded through land sales, leases, and resource extraction. By 1860, these accounts were consolidated into one trust and handed over to the authority of the Canadian federal government, now known as the Indian Trust Fund.
The Indian Trust Fund manages two types of trust moneys: Individual and First Nation. Individual moneys are managed by Indigenous Services Canada (formerly the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development) on behalf of an Indigenous minor until they reach age of majority, an Indigenous person found unable to handle their own funds and lives on-reserve, and on-reserve estates of Indigenous members who passed away — all individuals must be a status indian.
First Nations moneys also fall into two categories — capital and revenue money. Capital moneys come from the sale of Indigenous land, interest from land sales, and the sale of Indigenous land resources: oil and gas profits, sale of reserve property, timber, and gravel. Revenue moneys are those earned from renewable resources, such as income from leases, permits, rights-of-way, fines, and interest earned over time on the Indian Trust Fund account itself.
As of 2021, according to the Yellowhead Institute, the fund holds over $634 million. To access the Indian Trust Funds’ individual accounts, Indigenous people with status must fill out a form through their band, or the federal government website.
After, individuals receive a one-time payment with the amount varying from treaty to treaty, and nation to nation.
As for other profit, much of it is generated from Indigenous-owned businesses on reserves where money is spent and goes back into the community. This is called “own-source revenue” and it was only within recent decades that Indigenous people could have control of their own economic development.
Before we were given a small piece of economic autonomy back, communities were considered the sole responsibility of Canada — therefore economic development was heavily controlled until the Indian Act was amended. Presently, bands across so-called Canada have successfully established their own means of significant revenue.
Some examples include major shopping malls on Squamish First Nations land, a winery established by Osoyoos First Nation, the Dakota Dunes Casino owned by the Whitecap Dakota First Nation, and more.
So, next time someone insinuates that hard-working Canadians give handouts to Indigenous people and you happen to be present, I hope you remember this column. Don’t be shy to correct a fellow non-Indigenous person.
We can’t always be around to educate the world, so we must rely on our allies to speak up when our names are on the chopping block.
Are you brave enough for the task?
