Canada’s relationship with land’s First Peoples is a blueprint for Australia

Imagine a country with over a dozen First Nations police forces. Where a self-government act can see First Nations peoples make decisions about land, people and resources. Where First Nations peoples can take the helm of their own healthcare.

If it seems too aspirational, go to Canada. 

It’s a worthy case study: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People make up a similar slice (3.3%) of the Australian population as First Nations people do (4.9%) in the Great White North. Both have experienced genocide, colonisation, exclusion, dispossession and assimilation at the hands of a Commonwealth government.