#cdnpoli All opposition parties support changes to #IndianAct status. Liberals say while they support changes to registration eligibility, more consultations with First Nations are needed before the law is amended. looniepolitics.com/all-oppositi...
As an immigrant to Canada & having lived for a long time in Alberta, she’s not forgetting. She knows & is ignoring them just like Canada ignores it’s indigenous people or barely tolerate them at best via #IndianAct.
In case there's any doubt, despite the obvious work to create them by Chretien.
For every statement of denialism, there are reams of historical documents to refute it. One doesn't have to be a PhD or an ex-PM to access those facts.
#IndianAct #ResidentialSchools denialism #cdnpoli
As white colonial justice fails to stop ongoing crimes, natural justice must prevail and the current system wound down. No more courts founded on settler principles. No more #IndianAct.
#Colonialism + #FNMI #Haudenosaunee protocol:
disrupted matrilines
removed children
imposed #patrilineal law
enforced the #IndianAct
rewrote adoption, marriage, and belonging
You cannot then turn around and say:
If #colonialism severed your line, you simply no longer exist as #Indigenous.
Pretendian hunting treats #FNMI recognition, band membership, or “traditional protocol” as fixed, neutral standards when all of these have been deeply shaped by colonialism, the #IndianAct, displacement, adoption, urbanization, and imposed #governance.
Canada cannot continue delaying equality. Ending discrimination is a constitutional obligation – one we must uphold.
#BillS2 #IndigenousPeoplesCommittee #SenCA #CdnPoli #IndianAct #FirstNationsRights #EndingDiscrimination
If the goal is #sovereignty, let #FNMI lead it, not individuals acting as Nations they don't belong to. Not #IndianAct band council, not #reserves which are #segregation.
#Decolonization of systems themselves #FNMI including:
• Reclaiming or opening belonging pathways for those impacted by assimilation
• Pushing for traditional governance structures not tied to the #IndianAct
• Challenging capitalism, paternalism, and institutional power-seeking disguised as identity
Band councils were created under the #IndianAct (1876) as part of Canada’s #colonial administration of #FNMI #Indigenous peoples.
They replace or overlay traditional governance structures, which varied widely among nations (e.g., hereditary chiefs, clan councils, consensus-based decision making).
The #IndianAct framework (Sections 10 and 11):
Does not define or validate #Indigenous identity in a cultural, social, or community sense.
It only creates a legal category: “Status Indian” and “band membership” as recognized by the federal government.
Even Section 10 bands, which control their own #membership, operate under authority granted by the #IndianAct.
The Act creates the legal framework that allows #FNMI bands to adopt a membership code and manage themselves in this area.
Most larger, organized bands today are Section 10, but some smaller or less self-governing bands remain Section 11.
#IndianAct #FirstNations #Section10 #Section11 #BandMembership
#FNMI Band Membership in Canada 🇨🇦
Section 11: Membership is federally controlled if you’re on the Indian Register, you’re automatically a band member.
Section 10: Membership is band-controlled under a code approved by the federal government.
Either memberships are controlled by the #IndianAct.
Nations who operate outside the #IndianAct have more #sovereignty here.
If a Nation has:
its own membership code
its own governance
its own recognition processes
its own enrollment rules
its own way of defining belonging
#FNMI
A Nation only gets federal funding based on status population if:
they rely on #IndianAct funding models. #FNMI
Bill S-2 only affects #IndianAct registration, not Nationhood. Nation membership and belonging are still entirely up to each Nation (unless they choose to use federal membership rules, which many no longer do).
#FNMI
#FNMI Band councils and #Canada exist in a symbiotic relationship: councils administer communities and membership, but their authority and funding are entwined with the #IndianAct and federal oversight.
Band Councils will continue to exist as long as #Canada enforces the #IndianAct. Their authority is tied to a #colonial legal framework, so even self-determination is exercised within limits set by #federal law.
My latest for @irpp.org Policy Options: "Reconciliation can't wait another generation: end Canada's second-generation cut-off for Indian registration". #firstnations #reconciliation #charter #indianact #equality #treatyrights #childrensrights #mikmaq policyoptions.irpp.org/2025/11/reco...
For the record, I honor the rejection of #IndianStatus under the #IndianAct. It doesn’t define me or my relationship to community, culture, and ancestry mean far more than #colonial definitions. #FNMI
Opposing Bill S‑2 because it’s federal interference under the #IndianAct, yet by engaging with the law to oppose it, they’re still operating within a framework they reject. It’s a tension between asserting #sovereignty and navigating the legal reality imposed by #colonial structures. #FNMI
Bill S-2 could end the second-generation cut-off — one of the most exclusionary rules in the Indian Act.
Thousands of people who lost status through past discrimination could finally regain eligibility.
Read the analysis 👇
factsmtr.substack.com/p/bill-s-2-e...
#cdnpoli #IndianAct #Canada
If #colonialism disrupted family lines, created widespread displacement, and imposed the #IndianAct, then you cannot rely solely on traditional belonging systems or solely on #colonial membership systems without creating harm.
Traditional belonging systems and #IndianAct categories are both shaped by #colonialism now.
So restoring identity can’t rely entirely on one or the other. Nations need space to rebuild belonging in ways that reflect today’s realities, not just #precontact ones or #federal legislation.
The #IndianAct was created with the intent to end #IndianStatus through many means including marriage to non-status Canadians. I am very happy to see this injustice corrected, no one should lose their identity because of who they love. #CDNPoli #CDNSenate #BillS2 #Canada #CanadaSky #Indigenous
Most #FNMI reserves aren’t fully #sovereign; they operate under the #IndianAct, rely on federal funding, and are shaped by #colonial and #capitalist systems.
So when someone claims reserves are “less #colonial,” they’re ignoring: That band councils are still under the #IndianAct, reporting to the #federalgovernment.
What’s often missed is that #assimilation, relocation, child removal, and the #IndianAct forced those disconnections they weren’t “choices” or “dirty secrets.” Families often went underground for #survival. Framing that survival as shame turns #intergenerationaltrauma into personal blame.
