Liberals quiet on whether government will support Senate changes to First Nations bill that would end second-generation cut-off

Interesting parallel with C-3 and citizenship by descent. But Indian status is more material in terms of benefits and Canadian citizenship. Hard to see what would be a meaningful connection test if no parent or grandparent indigenous:

The House of Commons has started its study of government legislation aimed at ending gender inequities in the Indian Act but it’s unclear if the Liberals will support Senate amendments eliminating the so-called second-generation cut-off.

The rule denies Indian status to people who had a non-First Nation parent and grandparent, and has been criticized as a colonial policy that allows Ottawa to determine who qualifies as Indigenous and designed to limit the government’s obligations to status peoples.

Bill S-2 was introduced in the House in December after passing in the Senate with amendments that would end the cut-off policy.

The amendments passed over objections from senators representing the government, who called for more consultations with rights-holders.

But critics accused the government of using the consultations as a delay tactic, with other changes in S-2 facing a court-imposed deadline of this spring.

During third reading debate in the Upper Chamber, Sen. PJ Prosper said waiting for separate legislation was risky in a minority Parliament, with the threat of an unexpected election call always looming.

“What happens to the children affected by the cut-off if the government fails before consultations are concluded? What happens to the children if the government cannot pass stand-alone legislation in time?” he asked.

“In that way, these amendments, with the one-year coming-into-force delay, act as a fail-safe in these uncertain and unpredictable times.”

S-2 bill is still awaiting second reading in the House, but the chamber’s Indigenous and northern affairs committee began their study this week on issues related to the Indian Act registration.

Lori Doran, director general of individual affairs at Indigenous Services, told the committee on Tuesday the government is currently collecting submissions on the second-generation cut-off, which will then be reviewed by a panel of First Nations experts to assess their “legal viability and other impacts.”

That would then be packaged into a guide for consultations at a series of First Nations-led events that would start in the spring, she said.

Doran said some of the options floated to replace the second-generation cut-off include a one-parent rule, First Nations jurisdiction to decide on status or the use of DNA testing.

Several First Nations groups have publicly called on the government to support the Senate changes, including the Assembly of First Nations, which advocates on behalf of over 630 communities.

At a special assembly in Ottawa in December, AFN chiefs voted to support Senate changes to Bill S-2 to end the cut-off policy, with some chiefs warning that many First Nations would lose all status members in coming decades without changes to registration requirements. If a First Nation loses all its status members, their reserve territory would become Crown land.

Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty responded that she needed more time to consult before making a decision.

Gull-Masty’s office said the minister was unavailable on Friday.

Appearing on Thursday before the House Indigenous committee, AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak called the second-generation cut-off a “blood-quantum rule rooted in colonial thinking” that was designed to “reduce Canada’s obligations by steadily decreasing the number of people entitled to Indian status.”

“The rule treats First Nations identity as something that can be diluted and eventually erased. It does not reflect First Nations understandings of belongings and places the power to decide who is Indian enough with the federal government.”…

Source: Liberals quiet on whether government will support Senate changes to First Nations bill that would end second-generation cut-off