ICYMI: The top Indigenous political stories of 2023

A number of story lines played out through 2023 in the Indigenous political landscape. Here are the top stories we followed at CBC Indigenous this year, in no particular order. 

The Assembly of First Nations saw three different people carry the national chief title in some capacity. 

RoseAnn Archibald led the organization at the start of 2023, but she was ousted in a June Zoom meeting that saw 71 per cent of chiefs in attendance vote to remove her. 

Joanna Berdard was brought in as an interim replacement to carry out the remainder of Archibald's term, a decision reached as the assembly convened in Halifax in July. 

At the Halifax gathering, findings from a report based on calls from a 2020 resolution showed "toxic behaviours exist at all levels of the AFN, including the secretariat, the executive, the regional offices and the national chief's office."

In December, when the assembly gathered in Ottawa for its annual winter meeting, Cindy Woodhouse was elected national chief after a marathon night of voting and a concession by runner-up David Pratt. 

Canada's highest court ruled in favour of First Nations in a massive class-action settlement on child welfare in the fall. 

Just over $23 billion will be distributed among participants in the suit, brought forward more than 15 years ago. 

The deal resolves a human-rights complaint as well as the suit.

The AFN approved a resolution calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make a formal and meaningful apology to survivors of the child-welfare system, and to those who died in it. 

Bill C-53 is a federal legislative proposal that would recognize the governance of Métis organizations in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta. 

The bill would ratify self-government agreements signed in February by the federal government and Métis Nations in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta, while laying out an approval process for treaties with those groups.

If the bill passes third reading in the House of Commons and a Senate vote, the treaties would come into force through an order-in-council, a legal decision made by the federal cabinet and signed by the Governor General that doesn't require legislation by Parliament.

First Nations and Métis leaders argued their cases for and against the bill in front of the House of Commons Indigenous affairs committee in Ottawa.