First Nations and Canada.

In this article, Dr. Rÿser recounts the key events and strategies that led to the successful Indigenous movement to safeguard Indigenous rights during the Canadian Patriation. He tracks the movement's development from the 1969 "White Paper," in which Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Minister of Indian Affairs Jean Chrétien proposed eliminating the special status of Indigenous peoples in the new constitution, to Grand Cheif George Manuel's 1980 initiative, the "Constitution Express," in which he organized more than 600 Indigenous activists to travel across Canada by train to demand that the rights guaranteed in their Indigenous treaties with the British be upheld by the new Canadian Constitution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]