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From INAC's website
What are the proposed legislative amendments?
The proposed amendments, if enacted by Parliament, will ensure that eligible grandchildren of women who lost status as a result of marrying non-Indian men will become entitled to registration (Indian status) in accordance with the Indian Act. The proposed amendments do not extend to other situations.
As a result of the amendments, who will be eligible for first-time registration under the Indian Act to respond to McIvor decision?
You should consult the web site of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada for the specific eligibility criteria. Generally speaking, the key criteria to be newly entitled to registration are:
Did your grandmother lose her Indian status as a result of marrying a non-Indian?
Is one of your parents registered, or entitled to be registered, under sub-section 6(2) of the Indian Act?
Were you born on or after September 4, 1951?
Those who can answer yes to all of the above questions are encouraged to submit an application for registration as an Indian.
If you are the registered Indian parent of a minor child that fits the above scenario, you may apply on their behalf. Your entitlement to Indian registration will be automatically amended from 6(2) to 6(1) to allow for the registration of your child. No application for this amendment is required as it will be done at the time of your child's registration.
For more information on the criteria please call 1-800-567-9604.
Will the amendments address the Subsection 6(2)/Second Generation Cut-Off?The proposed amendments to the Indian Act will only extend registration to eligible grandchildren of women who lost status as a result of their marriage to a non-Indian man before April 17, 1985. Other cases will not become eligible as a result of this amendment.
How would these proposed amendments affect band membership?
For those being registered for the first time, there are two scenarios that govern band membership. For bands whose membership is determined by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada in accordance with section 11 of the Indian Act, applicants will be added to the band list at the time of registration. For bands who determine their own membership in accordance with section 10 of the Indian Act, applicants would be directed to the band with which they are affiliated to apply for membership. This does not affect their entitlement to registration under the Indian Act.
For persons already registered who are being amended to sub-section 6(1) of the Indian Act, if you are affiliated with a section 11 band there will be no change to your band membership. If you are currently a member of a section 10 band who determines their own membership, you will not lose membership unless the membership rules of your band are amended to that effect.
Could I lose my Indian status as a result of the proposed amendments?
No one will lose their status as a result of the proposed amendments.
Contact information
Phone: (toll-free) 1-800-567-9604
The family tree of a brother and a sister where the sister has lost status as a result of her marriage prior to April 17, 1985
Other Posts on this topic include:
- Wednesday November 3, 2010 Another McIvor Update
- Sunday May 23,2010 URGENT: Nonstatus Indians: somen's Groups poised to Kill C-3 aka McIvor Bill
- April 24, 2010 More on McIvor, Bill C-3
- Wednesday, April 7, 2010 More on McIvor- Canada Given 3-Month Extension to Implement McIvor decision
- Saturday, March 6, 2010 Update on McIvor/Indian Status.
Posts
11 comments:
Well, score one for us residents of the concentra.... reservations. Now, I can go tell a few of my neighbours they're no longer illegal aliens living on our lands for free, taking away all our (non-existent) good jobs, anymore. They'll be legit indians, now.
They'll still be broke as hell, but they'll be in the same boat as me and a whole lotta others.
you wrote..."If you are currently a member of a section 10 band who determines their own membership"..
Does this mean Bands can decided on their own membership i.e who is or who is not a member/"Indian"... irrespective of the Indian Act or the definition of an "Indian" therein ?
Hi Troy. Thank you for popping into our humble blog. lol@ your post.
Hi Dirk,
Before 1985 the government completely controlled Band Membership lists and you had to be a status Indian to get on the list. After 1985, Indian bands gained the right to make up their own membership lists, and you do NOT have to be a status Indian to get on the list. My understanding is that people who are not even remotely "Indian by blood" could be added if that is what a band wants to do. (Many First Nations traditionally considered anyone one adopted in and had customs that stated under the right conditions that people who married in could become members.) I honestly do not know if any bands that make up their own membership lists today extend membership to people who are not First Nations by birth. However, some do extend membership to people who are non-status. However, as usual there is a poison pill in all this.
When a band makes up its own membership list, and includes non-status people, the “new members” gain the right to vote, however, the band not given additional funding to offer them any kind of services. While the federal government continues to supply money for education, health care etc to the Status members, the non-status members get nothing (unless the band can come up with its own funding to extend equivalent services, which often they cannot) So any one the community adds to the list becomes a sort of second class citizen. This creates a "have" "have not" scenario that most folks are uncomfortable with.
So in my community we have our own membership code, but it's almost exactly like the Indian Act. After much discussion of how we want to include more people, and how we could define "community recognition" as a basis... we could not see ourselves creating a bunch of second-class Indian citizens. In fact, members or not, legal or not, there are a lot of non-status people that live on reserve. (This is what Troy is joking about re "illegal aliens" in his comment above)
In the end the only addition my community made to it's membership code was to put in a process where a council of citizens can revoke citizenship from people who repeatedly break the law. This was mostly aimed at evicting drug dealers and wife beaters from the community – Don't think the clause has ever been used in 20 years, though.
The goal in Indian country is for bands to control membership lists and for the federal government to agree that they extend full services to everyone on that list.
IS this going to give us the same benefits as my mother who was a 6-2 through the C-31 ACT. Is the government going to give Money for us to have a house and not having to rent? Are we going to have the same problem like my mom has on reserve to where the house can not get Renovated through the Band >>> "Because it is a... C-31 Housing?" There for the House Just sits and gets Vandalized to where it is Condemned, For there is No Money for C-31 Housing!!! What about this political Reserve B.S.? Are we not all Suppose to have been getting Treated Equally As a First Nation Person and not to be Separated and Having being CLASSIFIED as C-31 INDIANS! I AM VERY PROUD OF WHAT SHARRON HAS GONE THROUGH AND HER ACCOMPLISHMENTS, TO FIGHT THE GOVERNMENT! MY HAT IS OFF TO YOU SHARON MCIVOR AND MY PRAYER ARE WITH YOU FOREVER!! AMII YA ( THANK YOU)
IS this going to give us the same benefits as my mother who was a 6-2 through the C-31 ACT. Is the government going to give Money for us to have a house and not having to rent? Are we going to have the same problem like my mom has on reserve to where the house can not get Renovated through the Band >>> "Because it is a... C-31 Housing?" There for the House Just sits and gets Vandalized to where it is Condemned, For there is No Money for C-31 Housing Renovations!! What about this political Reserve B.S. Are we not all Suppose to have been getting Treated Equally As a First Nation Person and not to be Separated and Having being CLASSIFIED as C-31 INDIANS! I AM VERY PROUD OF WHAT SHARRON HAS GONE THROUGH AND HER ACCOMPLISHMENTS, TO FIGHT THE GOVERNMENT! MY HAT IS OFF TO YOU SHARON MCIVOR AND MY PRAYER ARE WITH YOU FOREVER!! AMII YA ( THANK YOU)
Hey GItxsanNDN , thanks for posting on our humble blog. I wish I had the answer to your questions. All I have heard the government say is that they will "look into" the issue of funding for mre services... sounds like a cop out to me.
I am with on on Sharon, her name will be honoured in the history books for sure.
Life for our First Nations citizens can only improve with the addition of our off reserve and 2nd. generation cut off being included. The old membership codes were very clear "any one who marries with us , or lives among us in our ways, will be one of us!" We still have a long way to go but this I view as a great thing for all the First Nations communities.
Lets also revere Janette Corbiere Laval along with Sharon McIvor...true heroines to the our communities in this fight for the enfranchised women, and their children
Thanks Ward, your answer was informative. Band membership has always been confusing to me. In my thinking the right of a nation/people to decide who is or not a member should be a given.The idea that the settler government get's to second guess this is just plain wrong.
Hi Debra, thank you for posting. I am with you on all points.
Hi Dirk, thanks for your patience in reading all that. It's not a short story to explain.
You wrote: "In my thinking the right of a nation/people to decide who is or not a member should be a given.The idea that the settler government get's to second guess this is just plain wrong."
Nicely put. And thanks.
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