Indian Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. I-5)

Marginal note:Management of revenue moneys by band

• 69 (1) The Governor in Council may by order permit a band to control, manage and expend in whole or in part its revenue moneys and may amend or revoke any such order.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (2) The Governor in Council may make regulations to give effect to subsection (1) and may declare therein the extent to which this Act and the Financial Administration Act shall not apply to a band to which an order made under subsection (1) applies.

Loans to Indians

Marginal note:Loans to Indians

• 70 (1) The Minister of Finance may authorize advances to the Minister out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of such sums of money as the Minister may require to enable him

  • (a) to make loans to bands, groups of Indians or individual Indians for the purchase of farm implements, machinery, livestock, motor vehicles, fishing equipment, seed grain, fencing materials, materials to be used in native handicrafts, any other equipment, and gasoline and other petroleum products, or for the making of repairs or the payment of wages, or for the clearing and breaking of land within reserves;

  • (b) to expend or to lend money for the carrying out of cooperative projects on behalf of Indians; or

  • (c) to provide for any other matter prescribed by the Governor in Council.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (2) The Governor in Council may make regulations to give effect to subsection (1).

• Marginal note:Accounting

  (3) Expenditures that are made under subsection (1) shall be accounted for in the same manner as public moneys.

• Marginal note:Repayment

  (4) The Minister shall pay to the Receiver General all moneys that he receives from bands, groups of Indians or individual Indians by way of repayments of loans made under subsection (1).

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (5) The total amount of outstanding advances to the Minister under this section shall not at any one time exceed six million and fifty thousand dollars.

• Marginal note:Report to Parliament

  (6) The Minister shall within fifteen days after the termination of each fiscal year or, if Parliament is not then in session, within fifteen days after the commencement of the next ensuing session, lay before Parliament a report setting out the total number and amount of loans made under subsection (1) during that year.

Farms

Marginal note:Minister may operate farms

• 71 (1) The Minister may operate farms on reserves and may employ such persons as he considers necessary to instruct Indians in farming and may purchase and distribute without charge pure seed to Indian farmers.

• Marginal note:Application of profits

  (2) The Minister may apply any profits that result from the operation of farms pursuant to subsection (1) on reserves to extend farming operations on the reserves or to make loans to Indians to enable them to engage in farming or other agricultural operations or he may apply those profits in any way that he considers to be desirable to promote the progress and development of the Indians.

Treaty Money

Marginal note:Treaty money payable out of C.R.F.

72 Moneys that are payable to Indians or to Indian bands under a treaty between Her Majesty and a band and for the payment of which the Government of Canada is responsible may be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Regulations

Marginal note:Regulations

• 73 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations

  • (a) for the protection and preservation of fur-bearing animals, fish and other game on reserves;

  • (b) for the destruction of noxious weeds and the prevention of the spreading or prevalence of insects, pests or diseases that may destroy or injure vegetation on Indian reserves;

  • (c) for the control of the speed, operation and parking of vehicles on roads within reserves;

  • (d) for the taxation, control and destruction of dogs and for the protection of sheep on reserves;

  • (e) for the operation, supervision and control of pool rooms, dance halls and other places of amusement on reserves;

  • (f) to prevent, mitigate and control the spread of diseases on reserves, whether or not the diseases are infectious or communicable;

  • (g) to provide medical treatment and health services for Indians;

  • (h) to provide compulsory hospitalization and treatment for infectious diseases among Indians;

  • (i) to provide for the inspection of premises on reserves and the destruction, alteration or renovation thereof;

  • (j) to prevent overcrowding of premises on reserves used as dwellings;

  • (k) to provide for sanitary conditions in private premises on reserves as well as in public places on reserves;

  • (l) for the construction and maintenance of boundary fences; and

  • (m) for empowering and authorizing the council of a band to borrow money for band projects or housing purposes and providing for the making of loans out of moneys so borrowed to members of the band for housing purposes.

• Marginal note:Punishment

  (2) The Governor in Council may prescribe the punishment, not exceeding a fine of one hundred dollars or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or both, that may be imposed on summary conviction for contravention of a regulation made under subsection (1).

• Marginal note:Orders and regulations

  (3) The Governor in Council may make orders and regulations to carry out the purposes and provisions of this Act.

Elections of Chiefs and Band Councils

Marginal note:Elected councils

• 74 (1) Whenever he deems it advisable for the good government of a band, the Minister may declare by order that after a day to be named therein the council of the band, consisting of a chief and councillors, shall be selected by elections to be held in accordance with this Act.

• Marginal note:Composition of council

  (2) Unless otherwise ordered by the Minister, the council of a band in respect of which an order has been made under subsection (1) shall consist of one chief, and one councillor for every one hundred members of the band, but the number of councillors shall not be less than two nor more than twelve and no band shall have more than one chief.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (3) The Governor in Council may, for the purposes of giving effect to subsection (1), make orders or regulations to provide

  • (a) that the chief of a band shall be elected by

    • (i) a majority of the votes of the electors of the band, or

    • (ii) a majority of the votes of the elected councillors of the band from among themselves,

    but the chief so elected shall remain a councillor; and

  • (b) that the councillors of a band shall be elected by

    • (i) a majority of the votes of the electors of the band, or

    • (ii) a majority of the votes of the electors of the band in the electoral section in which the candidate resides and that he proposes to represent on the council of the band.

• Marginal note:Electoral sections

  (4) A reserve shall for voting purposes consist of one electoral section, except that where the majority of the electors of a band who were present and voted at a referendum or a special meeting held and called for the purpose in accordance with the regulations have decided that the reserve should for voting purposes be divided into electoral sections and the Minister so recommends, the Governor in Council may make orders or regulations to provide for the division of the reserve for voting purposes into not more than six electoral sections containing as nearly as may be an equal number of Indians eligible to vote and to provide for the manner in which electoral sections so established are to be distinguished or identified.

Marginal note:Eligibility

• 75 (1) No person other than an elector who resides in an electoral section may be nominated for the office of councillor to represent that section on the council of the band.

• Marginal note:Nomination

  (2) No person may be a candidate for election as chief or councillor of a band unless his nomination is moved and seconded by persons who are themselves eligible to be nominated.

Marginal note:Regulations governing elections

• 76 (1) The Governor in Council may make orders and regulations with respect to band elections and, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, may make regulations with respect to

  • (a) meetings to nominate candidates;

  • (b) the appointment and duties of electoral officers;

  • (c) the manner in which voting is to be carried out;

  • (d) election appeals; and

  • (e) the definition of residence for the purpose of determining the eligibility of voters.

• Marginal note:Secrecy of voting

  (2) The regulations made under paragraph (1)(c) shall provide for secrecy of voting.

Marginal note:Eligibility of voters for chief

• 77 (1) A member of a band who has attained the age of eighteen years and is ordinarily resident on the reserve is qualified to vote for a person nominated to be chief of the band and, where the reserve for voting purposes consists of one section, to vote for persons nominated as councillors.

• Marginal note:Councillor

  (2) A member of a band who is of the full age of eighteen years and is ordinarily resident in a section that has been established for voting purposes is qualified to vote for a person nominated to be councillor to represent that section.

Marginal note:Tenure of office

• 78 (1) Subject to this section, the chief and councillors of a band hold office for two years.

• Marginal note:Vacancy

  (2) The office of chief or councillor of a band becomes vacant when

  • (a) the person who holds that office

    • (i) is convicted of an indictable offence,

    • (ii) dies or resigns his office, or

    • (iii) is or becomes ineligible to hold office by virtue of this Act; or

  • (b) the Minister declares that in his opinion the person who holds that office

    • (i) is unfit to continue in office by reason of his having been convicted of an offence,

    • (ii) has been absent from three consecutive meetings of the council without being authorized to do so, or

    • (iii) was guilty, in connection with an election, of corrupt practice, accepting a bribe, dishonesty or malfeasance.

• Marginal note:Disqualification

  (3) The Minister may declare a person who ceases to hold office by virtue of subparagraph (2)(b)(iii) to be ineligible to be a candidate for chief or councillor of a band for a period not exceeding six years.

• Marginal note:Special election

  (4) Where the office of chief or councillor of a band becomes vacant more than three months before the date when another election would ordinarily be held, a special election may be held in accordance with this Act to fill the vacancy.

Marginal note:Governor in Council may set aside election

79 The Governor in Council may set aside the election of a chief or councillor of a band on the report of the Minister that he is satisfied that

• (a) there was corrupt practice in connection with the election;

• (b) there was a contravention of this Act that might have affected the result of the election; or

• (c) a person nominated to be a candidate in the election was ineligible to be a candidate.