Caldwell First Nation presses Parliament to advance Bill extending Indian Act status to more descendants

Caldwell First Nation called on Ottawa to pass Bill S-2, which would end the second-generation cut-off under the Indian Act and extend status entitlement to any person with a parent who has status. Chief Nikki van Oirschot held a news conference on Parliament Hill on Thursday to press the demand while the bill sits before a House of Commons committee.

The second-generation cut-off renders children ineligible for status if only one parent held status and that parent also had only one parent with status.

Bill S-2 would also legislate the right of people with a family history of enfranchisement to obtain status and pass that entitlement to their descendants on the same terms as those without such a history. The Senate passed the bill in December. Enfranchisement removed status from Indigenous people when an Indigenous woman married a non-Indigenous man, when an Indigenous person became a doctor, lawyer or priest, or when an Indigenous person gave up status, typically in exchange for land and citizenship rights such as the right to vote.

Previous legislation restored status to women who married non-Indigenous men but left other categories of enfranchisement unaddressed. Chief Nikki van Oirschot said community recognition cannot substitute for federal recognition. “Some will say that First Nations can simply determine their own membership,” she said.

“But community recognition does not replace federal recognition. It does not restore access to health benefits. It does not restore access to post-secondary supports. ” She added that families should not be asked to wait another generation.

“Do not ask First Nation families to wait another generation,” van Oirschot said. ” Senator Paul Prosper and Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak attended the news conference along with two Caldwell community members affected by enfranchisement.