Indigenous policy and policy-making in Canada has been transformed over the last two generations. Politically marginalised and stripped of significant legal power through to the 1960s, Indigenous peoples fought for and secured greater attention to their rights and aspirations, including constitutional recognition, self-government authority, and substantial influence over the development of their traditional territories. The election of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government in 2015 signaled the start of the most comprehensive national commitment to Indigenous re-empowerment in Canadian history. Actual progress since 2015 has been slow and, for Indigenous peoples, frustrating. But new approaches to the production of policy, clear statements on Indigenous rights and a ‘whole of government’ approach to Indigenous affairs has reset the trajectory of government policy. The promising developments are far from sufficient to displace the centuries-old patterns of colonisation and marginalisation, however, suggesting that Indigenous peoples in Canada continue to face formidable challenges in their pursuit of autonomy and a substantial and sustainable place within the Canadian political and economic system.