The fraying consensus on the rights of Indigenous peoples: Ken Coates for Inside Policy – MLI
February 12, 2026
With the courts increasingly supporting their claims, Indigenous people are not just asking for a “seat at the table” – they’re calling for a full stake in the game.
Canadians generally favour Indigenous rights – so long as those rights don’t affect them personally. When Indigenous rights are distant, abstract, or symbolic, public backing is steady. But when those rights involve land, resources, economic opportunity, or political authority that non-Indigenous Canadians consider their own, support withers.
In the 1960s and 1970s, when First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people experienced the first small legal and political victories, these communities had little recognition of even the most basic Indigenous rights. Gradually, increasing numbers of Canadians came to support their search for justice and fairness.
