Indigenous Resources - Background, Policy, Analysis: Indian Act

From the online site for the Native Women’s Association of Canada.

This document"...seeks to trace, as briefly as possible, the evolutionary line of legislation respecting Indians beginning with the earliest
proclamations and royal instructions and ending with the 1951 Revision of the Indian Act. In tracing this development, each change, as far as possible, was
documented by direct quotation from a contemporary source. In only a few instances were any other sources used for documentation, though the bibliography will reveal that a number of such works were consulted."

This is the second edition of "The Historical Development of the Indian Act," the first (January 1975) by Kahn-Tineta Miller and George Lerchs, Policy, Planning and Research Branch....
The purpose of this paper is to acquaint Departmental officials and researchers with the main themes of Indian policy and legislation from colonial times. It is not intended to be a definitive account, but
rather a guide to further research, and a stimulus for policy discussion. It is not an official Departmental publication but an internal working paper and the views expressed are not necessarily those of the Department.....
It has two major sections: Pre-Confederation 1755-1867, and Post-Confederation, 1867-1951."

""The purpose of this paper is to set out the Indian Act as it exists at the time of the writing of this paper, and also, to provide an explanation of the legal language, in understandable terms, used in the Indian Act."

""This Act may be cited as "The Indian Act"."--p. [1]."

""This volume will assist researchers in tracing the development of the Indian Act from 1876 to the present. It contains a series of tables, chronologically arranged. Each table is organized around a statute or revised statute, with the sections listed sequentially and identified as to their subject matter. Amending or revised Acts are portrayed by means of additional columns and are arranged according to their respective date of enactment. Each table focuses on a particular Act, such as the 1876 Indian Act, and shows how, section by section, the Act was amended, repealed or consolidated by subsequent legislation. However, do note that the tables are not exhaustive and are presented primarily as a research guide."--Foreword."

"This enactment requires the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs to initiate consultations on issues related to registration and band membership and to conduct reviews on sex-based inequities under the Indian Act, and to report to Parliament on those activities. "