The White Paper (1969) | The Brian Mulroney Institute of Government

The Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian Policy (1969), also known as The White Paper (which gets its name from being a policy presented by a white majority), was a policy paper presented by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his Minister of Indian Affairs, Jean Chrétien.
The White Paper was developed with the idea that giving special rights to Indigenous peoples gave them a disadvantage.
The White Paper proposed to remove Indian status, nullify the Indian Act, dissolve the Department of Indian Affairs, change reserve land to land which could be sold by bands or band members, remove federal government's responsibility over Indigenous people and change it to a provincial matter (where the same services would be applied to other citizens as well as Indigenous people), give funding for economic development, and eventually eliminate treaties and settle land claims.
Although this policy was presented with the confidence to succeed, the response from Indigenous peoples was pure outrage as the policy was perceived as way for the federal government to avoid their responsibility to address their long history of poor decision-making, which has come at the expense of Indigenous peoples.
Not only did the White Paper neglect to address the brutal history of Indigenous discrimination, but it failed to take any input from Indigenous peoples for who the policy would impact most.
As a result, the White Paper was so heavily disputed that it was withdrawn in 1971 and it also created a new sense of Aboriginal nationalism, causing Indigenous associations and organizations to come together and promote their rights and interests for the years to come.

Citation

Canada. Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian Policy, 1969. [Ottawa Ontario], 1969. https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.700112/publication.html