White Paper of Canada
The White Paper of Canada, introduced in 1969 by Prime Minister Pierre E. Trudeau, was a governmental policy proposal aimed at addressing the systemic inequalities faced by Native Canadians following World War II. This document emerged during a period of rising social consciousness and aimed to dismantle what was termed the "Indian problem," characterized by discrimination and limited access to socio-economic opportunities for Indigenous peoples. The White Paper recommended the repeal of the Indian Act and the transfer of responsibilities for Indigenous social services to provincial governments, presuming this would eliminate discrimination by integrating Native Canadians into mainstream society.
However, the proposal faced significant backlash from Native political organizations, particularly the National Indian Brotherhood, which later became the Assembly of First Nations. These groups rejected the White Paper, arguing that it overlooked essential issues related to Indigenous rights and sovereignty, including treaty obligations and land claims. The strong opposition led the Trudeau government to withdraw the White Paper in 1970. Despite this, some of its recommendations were gradually implemented, alongside negotiations for land claims and acknowledgment of existing Aboriginal and treaty rights, particularly through the 1982 Constitution Act. The White Paper remains a pivotal moment in Canadian history, highlighting the complexities in the relationship between the Canadian government and Indigenous peoples.
White Paper of Canada
Date: Proposed 1969, withdrawn 1970
Tribes affected: Tribes residing in Canada
Significance: This proposal by the Canadian government to revamp its relationships with, and obligations to, Native Canadians met with the near-unanimous disapproval of native groups
By the late 1960’s, it had long been recognized that Native Canadians had failed to share socially and economically in the general prosperity that followed World War II. They were frequently the victims of discrimination and lacked access to the economic, educational, medical, and social benefits available to the majority of Canadians. These issues were frequently lumped together in the popular media and by government bureaucrats as the “Indian problem.” The White Paper of 1969 was a policy statement and plan issued by Prime Minister Pierre E. Trudeau to resolve the problem.
Running on the campaign slogan “The Just Society,” Trudeau led the Liberal Party to victory in the Canadian national elections in June of 1968. The slogan signified a social consciousness that had been growing among the Canadian populace throughout the 1960’s. The White Paper was part of a general attempt by Trudeau and his ministers, following that election, to review and reorder all Canadian social and economic policy.
Trudeau and his followers firmly believed that the special status granted to natives by the Indian Act was at least partly to blame for the discrimination against them. According to the White Paper,
the separate legal status of Indians and the policies which have flowed from it have kept the Indian people apart from and behind other Canadians. . . . The treatment resulting from their different status has been often worse, sometimes equal and occasionally better than that accorded to their fellow citizens. What matters is that it has been different.
The White Paper recommended the repeal of the Indian Act, the dissolution of the Indian Division of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND), and the transfer to the provinces of all responsibility for the delivery of social services to natives.
In order to gain native approval of its proposals, the government facilitated and funded the formation of a variety of native political organizations. The most prominent of these was the National Indian Brotherhood, which later became the Assembly of First Nations. Much to the surprise of the Trudeau government, these native political organizations were nearly unanimous in their rejection of the White Paper proposal. Their objections were many but hinged primarily on the failure of the Trudeau government to recognize native claims of aboriginal rights and sovereignty. These, they believed, would require the acceptance of long-ignored treaty obligations and the settlement of land claims.
Faced with such outspoken and vocal opposition, the Trudeau government withdrew the White Paper in 1970 but continued in various other says to disavow the notion of distinct rights for natives and other cultural minorities. It was later to acknowledge a measure of “existing aboriginal and treaty rights” via the 1982 Constitution Act. Subsequent governments, while implementing some of the White Paper proposals (specifically the transfer of responsibility for social services to the provinces), have also negotiated land claims and aboriginal rights agreements with a number of native political entities.