Manitoba premier urges prime minister to scrap colonial Indian Act at historic Ottawa summit

At a historic Ottawa summit of federal and provincial leaders with First Nations chiefs, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew demanded the abolition of the Indian Act, a colonial statute enacted in 1876. Holding up his personal status card, Kinew told Prime Minister Mark Carney that the race-based identification it imposes no longer reflects Canada’s identity and must be removed in partnership with Indigenous governments. He stressed that ending the Act would preserve existing treaties and constitutional rights while eliminating paternalistic controls.

The meeting, the first of its kind since the Kelowna Accord talks of 2005, was led by Assembly of First Nations national chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, who framed it as a step toward future prosperity. Tensions persist over the Carney government’s new fast-track project-approval office, which some chiefs say threatens Indigenous rights. Kinew praised Canada’s international human-rights reputation but said the Act undermines that message.