Aboriginal Affairs In 1755, the
British Crown established the
Indian Department. The
Governor General of Canada held control of Indian affairs, but usually delegated much of their responsibility to subordinate civil secretaries. In 1860, the responsibility for Indian affairs was transferred from the
British government to the
Province of Canada; the responsibility for Indian affairs was then delegated to the Crown Lands Department Commissions Responsible for Indian Affairs. The
federal government's legislative responsibilities for First Nations and the 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 were concluded between Canada and the various
Indian bands across the country. 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. 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. Under the
Federal Identity Program, the department is known as Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada.
Annual Arctic expeditions Beginning in the early 20th century, the Government of Canada sponsored annual expeditions to the
Canadian North. These expeditions yielded extensive photographic documentation of the lives of northern indigenous peoples by participating explorers, engineers, scientists and medical staff. Explorer, photographer, filmmaker, writer and lecturer Richard S. Finnie accompanied numerous expeditions to the North. His first voyage was aboard
CGS Arctic, under the command of
Captain Bernier in 1924. During the 1930–1931 expedition to the Western Arctic, Finnie served as filmmaker. Lachlan T. Burwash, an exploratory engineer with the Department of the Interior, made a survey of the east coasts of
Hudson Bay and
James Bay, and the
Belcher Islands in the late 1920s.
Zoologist Joseph Dewey Soper travelled to the
Baffin Island (Qikiqtaaluk) region in the late 1920s in order to document the landscape, as well as the plant and bird life.
J.G. Wright, Superintendent of Eastern Arctic Patrol and
National Film Board photographer, served on the 1945–1946 expedition sponsored by the
Canadian National Institute for the Blind. As the Regional Director of
Family Allowances for
Yukon and the
Northwest Territories, S.J. Bailey served as part of the Eastern Arctic Patrol beginning in the late 1940s.
Restructuring of the DIAND In August 2017, the
Trudeau ministry announced the dissolution of the
Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (
DIAND) and announced that it would be replaced by the
Department of Indigenous Services and the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. This came into effect as of July 15, 2019. The transition was not instantaneous, with
Orders-in-Council initially separating the portfolios, and formal legislation constituting the new departments being passed in July 2019. According to Trudeau, the rationale behind the restructuring was that "the structures in place at Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada were created at a time where [sic] the approach around the
Indian Act, the approach around our engagement with indigenous peoples, was very much looked at in a paternalistic, colonial way". The new departments are consistent with the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples' recommendations to improve the delivery of services dramatically and fast-track self-government. ==Organization==