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white paper
DCHP-3 (Mar 2023)
Spelling variants:White Paper
1a†n. — Politics
an official policy paper approved by Cabinet.
Quotations
1980
If the PQ wishes to be the bargaining agent for renewed federalism, it should publish a white paper on renewed federalism in which it puts forth the principles and policies that it would pursue during negotiations.
1994
Then, in 1971, the finance minister of the day (Ben Benson) finally introduced a tax-reform bill. It was a compromising rewrite of his own government's white paper. More briefs, more hearings, and several months later a law was passed.
2002
The decision comes after John McCallum, the Minister of National Defence, also elected not to go ahead with a process to review the 1994 White Paper that serves as a policy statement for Canadian military goals and objectives.
1bn. — Politics, Federalism, Colonialism
a controversial policy paper put forth in 1969 by then Minister of Indian Affairs & Northern Development, Jean Chrétien.
Type: 4. Culturally Significant — In 1969, after little to no meaningful consultation with Indigenous peoples, the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Jean Chrétien (who would later become Prime Minister from 1993-2003), presented to Parliament a policy paper officially called the "Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian Policy." This assimilationist policy statement (see the 1998 quotation) was immediately referred to as the White Paper by outraged members of Indigenous communities (see the third 1969 quotation) and has since been referred to as the notorious White Paper in the mainstream lexicon (see the 1987 and 1998 quotations).
As part of the Trudeau government's 1968 election platform to abolish special privileges for any Canadians (see the 1987 quotation) and assimilate First Nations people into settler-colonial socioeconomic structures, Chrétien's policy paper proposed to do away with all legal documents pertaining to Indigenous peoples, including the Indian Act and all treaties signed between the Crown and various Indigenous nations (see the second 1969 and the 1970 quotations). Effectively, Chrétien's White Paper would have abolished Indigenous rights and transferred legal responsibility for Indigenous peoples from the federal government to provincial governments (see the 2021 quotation).
The response from Indigenous communities across Canada was outrage (see the first and third 1969 quotations) and a formal policy document that came to be known as the Red Paper (see the 2021 quotation). Although the Trudeau-Chrétien Government accepted the political inexpediency of the moment and shelved their policy, Indigenous leaders refused to be lulled into complacency, and the next half century saw decades of unprecedented political mobilization for the recognition and respect of Aboriginal rights (see the 1987, the 1998 and the 2023 quotations). An Indigenous response was the Red Paper.
As part of the Trudeau government's 1968 election platform to abolish special privileges for any Canadians (see the 1987 quotation) and assimilate First Nations people into settler-colonial socioeconomic structures, Chrétien's policy paper proposed to do away with all legal documents pertaining to Indigenous peoples, including the Indian Act and all treaties signed between the Crown and various Indigenous nations (see the second 1969 and the 1970 quotations). Effectively, Chrétien's White Paper would have abolished Indigenous rights and transferred legal responsibility for Indigenous peoples from the federal government to provincial governments (see the 2021 quotation).
The response from Indigenous communities across Canada was outrage (see the first and third 1969 quotations) and a formal policy document that came to be known as the Red Paper (see the 2021 quotation). Although the Trudeau-Chrétien Government accepted the political inexpediency of the moment and shelved their policy, Indigenous leaders refused to be lulled into complacency, and the next half century saw decades of unprecedented political mobilization for the recognition and respect of Aboriginal rights (see the 1987, the 1998 and the 2023 quotations). An Indigenous response was the Red Paper.
See: Red Paper
Quotations
1969
Leonard Monaige, a band administrator of the Beausoleil band at Christian Island in Georgian Bay, said the $50-million development fund mentioned in the white paper on Wednesday, "will end up in non-Indian pockets -- more surveys, more studies."
1969
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau says the federal Government is not prepared to guarantee Aboriginal rights to Canada's 237,000 Indians.
His statement, at a Liberal fund-raising dinner on Friday night, reinforced Indian Affairs Minister Jean Chrétien's recent white paper on Indian rights.
1969
Paul V. Walsh, Winnipeg lawyer and counsel to the National Indian Brotherhood said the Government's policy statement paid mere lip service to the principle of participatory democracy.
"It does not permit advocacy, rebuttal or dialogue," Mr. Walsh said. "There is nothing in this White Paper that reflects the attitudes and views of the meeting of Indians held in Ottawa recently."
1970
But he stressed also that the government does not recognize Aboriginal rights and set out its position on this issue in the Indian policy proposals published a year ago.
A section of that white paper says of aboriginal claims to land: "These are so general and undefined that 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."
1978
The more-Indian-control movement started with the just-society philosophy carried into government when Pierre Trudeau became government in 1968. In 1969, his Indian Affairs minister, Jean Chrétien, introduced the new plans in an unofficial white paper which became famous for the loud opposition it drew from native leaders across the country.
1987
The new government of Pierre Trudeau had come to power fervently opposed to special status for any Canadians and it saw the special position of treaty Indians and Inuit under the paternal hand of the government as an anomaly.
THE WHITE PAPER recommended the repeal of the Indian Act and an end to special status for Indians.
There was immediate uproar from the native peoples and in 1971 the white paper was withdrawn.
But the shock of facing imminent assimilation began to concentrate the minds of native peoples not only on the kind of future they saw for themselves, but also on their legal rights under existing agreements.
The strength of the native claim to large areas of Canada came to public attention as the result of a suit by the Nishga Indians of British Columbia in 1973.
1998
He still recalls the fervour whipped up by the announcement of the White Paper in 1969. In a then-futuristic technique, he arranged to have Chretien speak to a group of native leaders during a United Church convention over a telephone hookup. "What he had to say was broadcast to the entire group," says Cashore.
Did Chretien believe in assimilation?
"Absolutely," says Cashore.
2021
The legislative proposals they brought forward in their policy paper, popularly known as the White Paper, were rejected by the First Nations. At the special presentation of what became known as the Red Paper on June 4, 1970, a revealing photo of a dramatic moment in that encounter appears on the cover of Seen but Not Seen, the Indigenous leaders rejected the White Paper so strongly that the federal government backed away, and formally retracted it in 1971. A new era in non-Indigenous-First Nations relations in Canada began.
2023
Pierre Trudeau’s government began phasing out residential schools. But that same government produced a white paper under Indian Affairs minister (and future prime minister) Jean Chrétien that would have eliminated special status for First Nations, converted reserves into private property and wound down treaty rights. The government retreated in the face of First Nations outrage.