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Indigenous Sovereignty: Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian Policy (1969)

"Other grievances have been asserted in more general terms. It is possible that some of these can be verified by appropriate research and may be susceptible of specific remedies. Others relate to aboriginal claims to land. These are so general and undefined it is not realistic to think of them as specific claims capable of remedy except through a policy and program that will end injustice to Indians as members of the Canadian community" (20).

Canada. Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian Policy, 1969. Indian Affairs and Northern Development, 1969, publications.gc.ca/pub?id=9.700112&sl=0.

"[O]nce more the Indians of Canada are betrayed by a programme which offers nothing better than cultural genocide. The new Indian policy . . . is a thinly disguised programme of extermination through assimilation. For the Indian to survive, says the government in effect, he must become a good little brown white man" (1).

Cardinal, Harold. The Unjust Society: The Tragedy of Canada's Indians. M.G. Hurtig, 1969.

"For many Indians . . . the White Paper was yet another manifestation of European colonialism. Its proposals were a calculated attempt by the federal government to 'get out of the Indian business' and level the political landscape by unilaterally legislating Indians into extinction and to do so as an act of justice" (12).

"The main idea of the paper was that the assimilation of Indians into mainstream Canadian society – by force if necessary – was the right approach to solving Canada's century-long 'Indian problem'" (16).

"Ironically, the White Paper . . . launched a new phase in the political relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian state. The outraged response to the White Paper propelled Aboriginal leaders to demand greater recognition of their people's political rights; ultimately this gave rise to section 35(1) of the repatriated Constitution in 1982 and, more importantly, to a cluster of political positions opposed to White Paper liberalism" (12-13).

Turner, Dale. This is Not a Peace Pipe: Towards a Critical Indigenous Philosophy. U of Toronto P, 2006.