First Nations Government (Canada)

In Canada, an Indian band or band, sometimes referred to as a First Nation band or simply a First Nation, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subject to the Indian Act (i.e. Status Indians or First Nations). Bands are typically small groups of people: the largest in the country, the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation had 22,294 members in September 2005, and many have a membership below 100 persons. Each First Nation is typically represented by a band council chaired by an elected chief, and sometimes also a hereditary chief. As of 2013^[update] there were 614 bands in Canada. Membership in a band is controlled in one of two ways: for most bands, membership is obtained by becoming listed on the Indian Register maintained by the government. As of 2013^[update] there were 253 First Nations which had their own membership criteria, so that not all Status Indians are members of a band.

Bands can be united into larger regional groupings called tribal councils. There is also another kind of organization called a treaty council or treaty association, which in most provinces represents signatory bands of treatied areas (though in most of British Columbia, which is mostly untreatied, those bodies are for forming and negotiating future treaty claims). Another emerging type of organization in British Columbia are chiefs' councils, such as the St'at'imc Chiefs Council, which unites bands not included in tribal councils with those in tribal councils. Bands also typically belong to one or more kinds of provincial council or similar organization, and also the pan-Canadian Assembly of First Nations (formerly called the Native Indian Brotherhood), chaired by a leader elected with each band having one vote, rather than at large. Bands are, to an extent, the governing body for their Indian reserves. Many First Nations also have large off-reserve populations whom the band government also represents, and may also deal with non-members who live on reserve or work for the band.

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