The Canadian Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (INAC) was the federal department responsible for Crown-Indigenous relations as well as implementing the provisions of the Indian Act. This included managing the Residential School System as well as the various reserves throughout Canada. Originally created as department within the British military in 1755 to secure alliances with Indigenous communities against the French and later the Americans, the British passed responsibility of Indigenous affairs to the Province of Canada in 1860. After confederation in 1867, the Government of Canada resumed this responsibility.
While the Department was its own entity within the federal government, it still reported to various other government departments. This included the Department of the Interior, Department of Mines and Resources, and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration. In 1966, the Department officially became had its own separate minister and became officially known as the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (INAC). The Government of Canada officially dissolved INAC in 2019, which resulted in the creation of two federal departments, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Development Canada (CIRNAC) and Indigenous Services Canada (ISC).
1877-1953
2013-04-24 - 2013-04-27