Skipping to our third recommendation, we're looking to negotiate direct treaty-based funding agreements that create a government to government relationship between the crown of Canada and first nations governments, and appropriate arrangements thereto, without getting into the cost estimates.
All first nations in Alberta have a relationship with the crown of Canada through the department, and the current arrangements are consistent with the 142-year-old Indian Act. The very title of the legislation is derogatory to first nations people, and the content is no better. The act enabled a system of enfranchisement, which is a euphemism for cultural genocide. The act was created unilaterally without consulting first nations.
The treaties, by contrast, were enacted through a more consultative and good faith process. Most first nations continue to hold the treaties as a sacred trust between their first nation and the crown; therefore, the treaties are a more legitimate basis for good faith negotiation than the Indian Act.