Like many other First Nations communities in Canada, tensions exist at Fort William First Nation between the imposed system of governance (i.e. the "Chief and Council" system) and a traditional Anishinaabe political order. The Chief and Council system was imposed on First Nations across the country as part of Canada's approach to assimilating Indians, and Fort William is no different. This Chief and Council system ushered in a centralized electoral form of governance that repositioned leadership as being more accountable to the Canadian government than to the Anishinaabe people and Anishinaabe political principles. Despite this, however, traditional Anishinaabe law and governance is still practiced within the community; Anishinaabe governance is decentralized and based on emergence, where individuals and families collectively decide on how to proceed on issues that are important to the community. For example, the Robinson-Superior Treaty was signed in part by two Fort William chiefs (rather than one), and families still practice Anishinaabe citizenship law in the community in ways that respect collective self-determination rather than all decisions about who belongs being made by the Fort William band. While the Fort William Chief and Council system had been governed by the "Indian Act" for generations, the band held its first election under the "First Nations Election Act" on April 15, 2019.