Housing

First Nations in Canada Are Demanding Property Rights

Changing or abolishing the Indian Act in order to allow private land ownership may seem like a logical solution, but it’s not without its criticisms.
A boy plays on a broken-down RV on the Cote First Nation, near the town of Kamsack, Saskatchewan.Zachary Prong/Reuters

Sylvia Olsen is mad.

In fact, she’s spent at least the past 40 years outraged by the conditions that many of Canada’s 1.6 million Indigenous people live in—especially the 339,000 who live on-reservation.