Канадское министерство по делам коренных народов и северных территорий

Government department

Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC; ) is the department of the Government of Canada responsible for Canada's northern lands and territories, and one of two departments with responsibility for policies relating to Indigenous peoples in Canada (the other being the Department of Indigenous Services, or ISC). CIRNAC, along with ISC, were established to replace the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND). The department is overseen by two cabinet ministers, the Minister of Crown–Indigenous relations (whose portfolio includes treaty rights and land negotiations) and the Minister of Northern Affairs. Its headquarters is in Terrasses de la Chaudière, in downtown Gatineau, Quebec.

"First Nation" has been used since the 1970s instead of the word Indian, which some people found offensive. It is also used by Aboriginal people who live within Canada who claim rights of sovereignty or Aboriginal title to lands.

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.

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.

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 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. This report recommends an increase in Inuit participation in Nunavut's federal and territorial public service.