The history of Indigenous voting rights in Canada is a story of resilience, resistance, and a fight for something that should have been theirs from the start. It is a right most Canadians take for granted today, but for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples, it came at an enormous cost, and the journey is not quite over yet.

Most people would never go to their doctor and ask them about how the justice system works and assume they have the answer because they are in the profession of helping people. Yet the same line of thinking is not extended to Indigenous professionals.

For Indigenous people of the plains, the buffalo symbolized life – it provided them with food, shelter, tools, and it sustained their communities.

Indigenous elders and scholars have claimed education is the new buffalo, because as Indigenous people become more educated, it helps communities achieve self-determination, economic freedom and cultural continuity.