What was the federal Inherent Right to Self-Government Policy of 1995?

The federal Inherent Right to Self-Government Policy was issued by Jean Chrétien's Liberal government on August 10, 1995. The Policy recognised Indigenous self-government as a constitutional right protected by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 and provided a framework for negotiated implementation. The Policy formalised the federal recognition principle that self-government does not need to be granted by federal legislation; it is an existing right that requires implementation through self-government agreements. The Policy is a foundational document of modern federal-Indigenous self-government negotiations.

The Policy emerged from the failure of the Charlottetown Accord (October 26, 1992) to constitutionalise the inherent right of self-government. Charlottetown had explicitly recognised inherent self-government but was rejected in the national referendum. After the Liberal government's 1993 election, Indian Affairs Minister Ron Irwin and the federal Cabinet developed an alternative non-constitutional path to recognition. The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1991 to 1996), then in mid-process, was consulted but the Policy was finalised before RCAP's final report.

The Policy's main provisions included: federal recognition of the inherent right of self-government as an existing Aboriginal right under section 35; willingness to negotiate self-government agreements with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis; an enumeration of subject matters potentially within Indigenous jurisdiction (including matters internal to the group, social services, family, education, health, language, culture, lands, resources, environment, hunting, fishing, trapping, agriculture); a list of matters where federal jurisdiction would be paramount (Canada-wide criminal law, national defence, federal taxation, international relations); and a list of matters reserved to the federal government because of national interest (navigation, broadcasting, currency, external affairs).

Implementation of the Policy has been extensive but uneven. Major self-government agreements implementing the Policy include: the Nisga'a Final Agreement (May 11, 2000); the Tlicho Agreement (August 25, 2003); the Inuit-specific agreements at Nunavut (April 1, 1999) and Nunavik (Quebec, 2008); the Westbank First Nation Self-Government Agreement (May 6, 2005); the Maa-nulth First Nations Final Agreement (April 1, 2011); the Tla'amin Final Agreement (April 5, 2016); and many others. By 2024 about 25 modern treaties and 15 stand-alone self-government agreements had been negotiated under the Policy framework. Federal-First Nation negotiation tables remain active for many additional agreements. The Policy's framework has been criticised for restricting some areas of jurisdiction and for slow implementation, but it remains the leading federal framework for Indigenous self-government recognition. Subsequent developments include the federal UNDRIP Act of 2021, which committed Canada to ensuring federal laws are consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.