Question Period Note: Remaining Inequities in Indian Registration

• The Government eliminated sex-based inequities in registration through Bill S-3 and delivered the Third and Final Report to Parliament in December 2020 on the review of its implementation.

• The Report recognizes that residual impacts of these historical wrongs, and other, non sex-based inequities still exist in Indian registration, including enfranchisement.

• Solutions for these inequities are being considered as part of ongoing engagement with First Nations, experts and advocates.

• We are committed to working with Indigenous partners toward nation-to-nation relationships and we will continue to collaborate with First Nations in order to find ways to move beyond the Indian Act.

In July 2016, the Government of Canada introduced a staged approach in response to the Descheneaux decision that included legislative amendments to the Indian Act to address sex-based inequities in registration. The first set of amendments came into force in 2017 to address issues that affected siblings, cousins, omitted minor children, and unknown/unstated parentage. Following consultations with First Nations during the Collaborative Process, further amendments removing what is known as the “1951 cut-off” came into force in August 2019 and eliminated all sex-based inequities in registration.

Between 2018 and 2019, consultations were held across the country, led by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, with Indigenous partners and more than 400 communities on how best to bring S-3 into force.

Bill S-3 also included requirements for the responsible Minister to report to Parliament three times:

1. the design of the consultations which was published in the first Report to Parliament and tabled on May 10, 2018;
2. the status of the consultations which was published in the second Report to Parliament and tabled on June 12, 2019; and,
3. the implementation of S-3, which was published in the final Report to Parliament, and tabled on December 11, 2020.

The Third and Final Report to Parliament on the review of S-3 in December 2020 determined that while all sex-based inequities have been removed from the registration provisions of the Indian Act, there are residual impacts of historic law and policy, as well as remaining non-sex-based inequities in Indian registration. Moreover, there are non sex-based inequities that continue to persist in registration provisions of the Indian Act including enfranchisement, the taking of scrip, Section 10 and 11 band membership issues, deregistration, and the "second generation cut-off." Engagement with First Nations and stakeholders is ongoing to determine how best to address these concerns but no timeline exists to resolve them. To support engagement, the Department is working collaboratively with partners, including the Assembly of First Nations, the Native Women’s Association of Canada, and the Feminist Alliance for International Action. These organizations offer provincial and territorial connections to effectively reach First Nations and First Nation Organizations across the country.

Some of the most common recommendations made by participants during the Collaborative Process to address other inequities under the Indian Act were:

• share more information, provide funding for ongoing discussions, and co-develop solutions to any further changes or fixes to the Indian Act with First Nations, especially with Indigenous women, leaders, and Elders
• address inequities to ensure that any direct descendant from a First Nation or registered Indian can be registered
• one registered parent should be sufficient in order to pass on status to a child
• provide increased funding for First Nations for any subsequent changes to the Indian Act that results in more people being entitled to registration or band membership
• simplify the legislation: individuals should simply be registered or not and there should be no categories of registration
• simplify the application process for registration, reduce the requirements, and provide more information and assistance to applicants
• provide First Nations with support and resources to assist their people in determining ancestry for both registration and membership, including funding for staff, access to records, databases, research, and capacity building for First Nations registration/membership administrators
• the burden of proof is on the applicant but it is the government who holds all records. This information should be made available to First Nations and the public
• support and empower First Nations to define who their own citizens are, in accordance with the treaties and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, rather than continued registration through the Indian Act.

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