Ummmmmmmmm I hope this does not tough any nerves at all and I mean no harm to anyone…been a First Nations person and a First Nations person that stand up for my beliefs.
Just a question about the term…“Band Council”…would you think the correct term be Native Council or something in that range? Why BAND? I’m just wondering…
IC no instruments…IC a Elected Council…no Band…does that mean…Band Together as one?
dictionary.reference.com/browse/band
“a division of a nomadic tribe; a group of individuals who move and camp together and subsist by hunting and gathering.”
and
Anthropology A unit of social organization especially among hunter-gatherers, consisting of a usually small number of families living together cooperatively.
Canadian An aboriginal group officially recognized as an organized unit by the Canadian government. See Usage Note at First Nation.
then check out:
“First Nation is essentially a political term, promoted from within the indigenous community as a substitute for band in referring to any of the numerous aboriginal groups formally recognized by the Canadian government under the federal Indian Act of 1876.”
Nice technical opinion Mig. This sound logic, but I was hoping to hear what the opinions of actual thoughts of ppl.
thanks anyways Mig 
Is this interchangable with ‘Tribal Council’? or is that something different?
It is hard to avoid being somewhat technical because “band” is a legal definition in the Indian Act (see below). It has whatever logic legislative drafters had in mind when they drafted the first Indian Act in 1876. The term continues on, but the logic seems to have been long since forgotten.
“band council” is a council elected under section 74 of the Act where the Minister of Indian Affairs has ordered that it applies; otherwise it is a council “chosen by the custom of the band”. Many bands have asked the Minister to cancel orders applying s 74 so that they can adopt their own elective system (usually) that in most cases really isn’t customary but may work better than Indian Act elections. They might be called something other than a “band council”, although legally that is what the federal government will regard them as for legal reasons.
Starting last year if a band elects its council under s 74 any band member can run for council, since a court ruled that excluding off-reserve band members from running is contrary to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Some band councils are looking at or proposing “customary” elections that would restrict the number of off-reserve band members who can be elected to council.
“Tribal councils” are associations of bands, starting in the 60s and 70s, generally organized under the Society Act. Like any association they can call themselves most anything they want so long as another entity is not using the same name. “Tribal council” was just a term that was used (probably following the Nisga’a Tribal Council formed in 1965), although it seems to have fallen out of favour, especially since popularization of “first nation” or “nation”, which may refer to a “band” in the legal sense or a larger group of aboriginal people (who may have once had a “tribal council”).
“band” means a body of Indians (a) for whose use and benefit in common, lands, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, have been set apart before, on or after September 4, 1951, (b) for whose use and benefit in common, moneys are held by Her Majesty, or (c) declared by the Governor in Council to be a band for the purposes of this Act;