21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality by Bob Joseph, and: Talking Back to the Indian Act: Critical Readings in Settler Colonial Histories ed. by Mary-Ellen Kelm and Keith D. Smith (review)

Who speaks for Indigenous nations and their citizens? What is the difference between hereditary chiefs and band council chiefs? Who has authority over reserve lands, and who can approve resource development projects within an Indigenous nation's territory? An understanding of the Indian Act is essential to answering these pressing questions, which many people have been asking in the wake of the Wet'suwet'en solidarity actions and Shut Down Canada protests that recently spread across the country. The Indian Act, however, is one of the most important but poorly understood pieces of Canadian legislation. 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act by Bob Joseph and Talking Back to the Indian Act by Mary-Ellen Kelm and Keith D. Smith are thus two timely publications that effectively illustrate how the federal government has used the act as a tool of colonization and Canadian nation-building since 1876. Though the books are directed at different audiences–Joseph's is a popular primer whereas Kelm and Smith's is a collection of documents geared towards undergraduate students–both will be of interest to scholars in history, Indigenous studies, and legal studies.

Bob Joseph is a member of the Gwawaenuk First Nation, a prominent blogger, and a trainer on Indigenous issues for businesses and non-profits. His goal is to encourage Indigenous-settler reconciliation by helping people "understand how [the Indian Act has] shaped the socio-economic and political reality of many generations of First Nations" (3). Joseph explains how the federal government introduced the Indian Act in 1876 as a way of delegitimizing Indigenous laws and imposing new governance structures to control Indigenous peoples through its Indian Affairs bureaucracy. He also outlines the many amendments the government made to the Indian Act to facilitate colonialism and nation-building, including banning Indigenous cultural practices, outlawing Indigenous political organizing, making attendance at residential schools mandatory, and imposing and defending paternalistic and patriarchal policies that discriminated against Indigenous women. The ultimate design of these policies, argues Joseph, was to "eradicate the culture of community and cohesiveness and enforce individualism and self-reliance" (38). Overall, the strength of Joseph's book is also its weakness. As a brief introduction to a complex subject, 21 Things will appeal to a general audience, but it will not satisfy those looking for an in-depth treatment of the history of the Indian Act. Still, 21 Things offers an important primer on the Indian Act and outlines the legislation's devastating effects for Indigenous peoples.

Talking Back to the Indian Act is a rich collection of historical documents related to the history of the Indian Act and settler colonialism in Canada. Prefaced by an excellent introduction by Mary-Ellen Kelm and Keith Smith that outlines the history of the act and provides an overview of historical and Indigenous research methodologies, the textbook's goal is to help readers, especially undergraduate students, "develop methods of engaging with documents" in ways that can advance a "better understanding of Canada's historical relationship with Indigenous peoples" (1). Kelm and Smith have curated a series of documents that highlight a number of key issues related to the Indian Act, including the act's influence on Indigenous governance, citizenship, gender, and land. Particularly useful is their inclusion of Indigenous voices–from a 1925 radio address by Haudenosaunee hereditary chief Deskaheh, to a short story about land dispossession in Vancouver by Stó:lō writer Lee Maracle–that illustrate Indigenous peoples' ability to resist and subvert, or "talk...