ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates a number of circumstances concerning Indian lands, which have no counterpart in the adjoining "white" areas: efforts to regain lost land and problems connected with the retention, control and management of the existent landbase. Land may be viewed as the cornerstone of Indian people's ethnic and cultural identity. A discussion of Indian lands would be incomplete without some elaboration on the topic of Indian land claims which have been a feature of almost all periods of Canada's history. Individual land tenure on the Stoney Reserve is subject to the same customary system. However, it is even more flexible and informal. The land as provider is a familiar concept to the Indian of old and new times alike. Therefore, activities evolving from the landbased economy — be it agriculture, forestry, outdoor recreation or mineral extraction — can be interpreted as having some degree of continuity from the Indians' traditional mode of economy.
