UN, First Nations leaders say Liberals must pass Indian Act changes as ‘priority’

Current law uses a formula to determine whether an individual qualifies for “full” or “half” First Nations status, and some First Nations leaders say the formula punishes people over their choice of marriage partners.

Some chiefs say if the law is not changed, it could leave their communities with no federally recognized members in the next generation — essentially eliminating their rights as a distinct people.

A bill being studied by a House of Commons committee seeks to remove that second-generation cutoff. Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty has indicated her government will not support it.

The United Nations paper says the second-generation cutoff in the Indian Act “has the effect of forcibly assimilating Indigenous individuals … [because] it will lead to diminishing numbers of persons with legal Indian status who are recognized by Canada as having treaty, Aboriginal and inherent rights, as well as being persons to whom Canada owes a fiduciary duty.”

The bill was introduced in the Senate as S-2, and initially had support from the governing Liberals.

The bill was drafted to eliminate some gender inequities in the Indian Act and allow some 3,500 people to become eligible for First Nations status.

Some senators and First Nations leaders said the bill didn’t go far enough. Senators voted to extend eligibility requirements to allow status to be transferred to children if one of their parents is registered, and sent the legislation to the House of Commons.

The Senate committee studying the legislation heard from nearly 50 witnesses, all of whom said the second-generation cutoff needs to be eliminated. Senators said those voices represent more than half of First Nations in Canada.

All four opposition parties in the House of Commons supported the Senate’s amendments. Gull-Masty signalled her government was looking for another approach and wanted to continue consultations on the issue, which have been ongoing since 2023.

Lori Idlout, now the Liberal MP from Nunavut, spoke in favour of the amendments, and was a vocal critic of the government for its stance on S-2, before she joined the Liberal caucus in March.

Last week, Idlout told reporters she “definitely learned a lot more about the approach” to the Indian Act her new party is looking to take.

She did not share what that approach would look like, pointing instead to consultations.

Conservative MP Billy Morin, who supports amending the Indian Act through S-2 to remove the second-generation cutoff, told The Canadian Press on Tuesday that Idlout’s remarks were “disappointing.”

“I’ve got to believe that floor crossing means that she just has to toe the party line now,” he said.

Sharon McIvor, a longtime critic of the Indian Act, said at a virtual news conference Tuesday that Gull-Masty and the federal government are using consultations as cover to further delay eliminating the cutoff and restoring First Nations status to the children of rights-holders.

She said the minister needs to decide whether the government is “willing to finally do the right thing, or continue standing on the wrong side of history.”

“Canada does not get to say anymore that it does not know what the solution is. It does know. They’ve admitted it’s discriminatory,” McIvor said.

Gull-Masty’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Morin said the federal government is acting in a manner inconsistent with reconciliation by stonewalling changes to the Indian Act.

“They’re consulting on the extinction of Indigenous Peoples,” he said.

“They seem to not want to uphold human rights.”