History is important because it explains how we got to this point and why FN are in the situation that they are. The short answer is that at various points in time the europeans that settled Canada formed alliances with the various bands and used treaties to do so. They went so far as to negotiate sovereign to sovereign deals that were constitutionally embedded. Now whether that was a good idea or not can be disputed but those treaties have been tested at the Supreme Court level and certain rights have been upheld. What we see now is the process of clarifying those rights (e.g. Consultation over use of Traditional lands) and extraction of benefits by FN in return for their cooperation/sharing.

This isn't unique to FN in Canada. Most commonwealth nations are going through the same process with their indegenous populations because the British used the 'treaty' approach in most of their colonies.

So if people want to assign blame for where we are, blame our predecessors who negotiated the treaties or the 200 plus year succession of governments that didn't clarify/negotiate/settle aboriginal issues and abdicated their responsibility to do so. I don't like it but I don't blame the FN for getting as much as they can from their rights. At some point everyone will realize the pie is only so large and a division will be settled upon. I think we are moving closer to that but not holding my breath.

... Been There