Unlike the Inuit and the Métis, Status Indians do not pay taxes on the reserve. All three classifications have access to programs and benefits, but Status Indians also have rights and benefits defined in the Indian Act and the Treaties.

King listed a few perks that come with the First Nation designation. For instance, the status card can be used instead of a passport to cross the border within North America. She said there's also a gas card that allows 14.7 cents off every litre on the reserve.

Those who fall under the category, can use their status card to allow them to be exempt from paying provincial tax on items at a store off the reserve. That particular benefit can come with racist undertones, or, what King calls, "the look" from some.

She recalled an encounter at a popular retail chain where she presented her card and asked for

an exemption. The clerk turned and called out in an irritated tone, "Suzy, I've got an Indian over here, do you know how to take the tax off of of them?"

Though the anecdote is from the past, King said the same treatment continues today.

"We we put out card down and people don't understand why we have this card and what the rights and benefits that go with it, that's what we still experience today – on a regular basis," she added.

In order to provide context for the lecture, King presented a film called No Turning Back: The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples before speaking to attendees.

The poignant film documented the Commission as it visited aboriginal communities in the 1990s and heard concerns on issues such as land claims, past residential schools and aboriginal people in prisons, to name a few.

While the credits rolled, King broke the silence in the room by stating that only two of the 16 recommendations made have been implemented: National Aboriginal Day (proclaimed in 1996) and the Apology, made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2008 on behalf of the Canadian government in regards to the historic treatment of aboriginal children in residential schools.

Given some of the past horrors experienced by First Nations people that often go ignored in the classroom, King's parting words called for a completely revised and comprehensive history of Canada that is mandatory in schools.