Context

Indigenous resistance took a new form in political and social activism in the 1970s and 1980s following the contexts of the White Paper/Red Paper exchange. Indigenous activism in Canada took hold on a national scale post 1969, giving rise to the voices of Aboriginal communities on a more unified and nation-wide scale. Resistance in the form of activism prior to the White Paper was done on a more localized level. But in the wake of the Government's Statement on Indian Policy in 1969, First Nations people felt ignited about issues with Indigenous rights on a national and collective scale as embodied with the Red Paper response in 1970. 

The Red Paper response of resistance in 1970 helped to shape the course of how First Nations resistance through activism that would increase throughout the 1970s and 1980s across Canada. Not only did activism for Indigenous rights explode across Canada in this moment, but resistance movements also spilled across borders with American Indian Movement (AIM) in the United States that also came to influence and shape the nature of First Nations Resistance in Canada. 

The legacy of resistance emerging through activism in the 1970s through to the 1980s can also be seen today under modern movements such as Idle No More. 

Hawthorn Report 

In 1963 the federal government commissioned Anthropologist Harry Hawthorn from the University of British Columbia to create a report on the social conditions of Aboriginal peoples across Canada [1]. The panel commissioned by the Canadian government surveyed indigenous communities surrounding issues of healthcare, education. The survey was published in two volumes in 1966 and 1967 by Indian and Northern Affairs [2]. In this report "A Survey of Contemporary Indians of Canada" also known as the Hawthorn Report, it was concluded that Indigenous peoples of Canada were of the most marginalized and disadvantaged in society as a result of failed government policy. The report made recommendations to end all forced assimilation programs and that Aboriginal peoples should be considered as “citizens plus,”[3] with freedom of choice for their own lifestyles. The Hawthorn Report first introduced the term "citizens plus" as it outlined that Aboriginal people had become a part of the most marginalized people in Canada as "citizens minus" and needed to be treated as "citizens plus" to improve the conditions and treatments of marginalization.

The recommendations made by the Hawthorn Report informed Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Jean Chrétien on how to proceed with creating a new Indian Policy in Canada [4]. The Hawthorn Report came to recognize the failings of Indigenous policy under the terms of the Indian Act and proposed changes that would improve the living and social conditions of Aboriginal communities. In light of this report, Chrétien wanted to amend the Indian act began a consultation process with various Aboriginal communities and leaders that would eventually lead to the White Paper of 1969 [5]. The Hawthorn report explains what led to the White Paper proposal of 1969, as the failings of Indian policy had been brought to the attention of the Canadian government.  

Indian Association of Alberta 

The Indian Association of Alberta (IAA) is a First Nations rights organization that was founded in 1939 by John Callihoo and John Laurie [6]. In the 1940s and 1950s the IAA was active in making recommendations to revise the oppressive measures of the Indian Act that would secure Aboriginal treaty rights as they had been negotiated in the previous century [7]. In the late 1960s, the IAA became involved in First Nations politics on a federal scale extending beyond the provincial boundaries of Alberta itself after the proposal of the 1969 White Paper. 

The IAA led by Harold Cardinal in 1969 reacted staunchly to the proposals of the White Paper with the drafting of Citizens Plus: The Red Paper in 1970 [8]. What became popularly known as the Red Paper, rejected the Trudeau administration's new Indian policy in light of the proposal to transfer the responsibilities of reserves to the provinces and eliminating the special status of Indians. 

In light of the White Paper proposal, the IAA was a central group that argued against the paper and its outline for new Indian policy. The IAA and Alberta Indian Chiefs were supported by other national groups the National Indian Brotherhood in their rejection of the White Paper with the Red Paper exchange. The IAA counterargument ignited a new sense of Indigenous activism in Canada in the following decade and spurred the creation of new Indigenous political organizations.