Lucas-Matthew Marsh
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Iori:wase
Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak has called on the federal government to relinquish control of First Nations membership while speaking to the Senate Committee last week.
“Our people are entitled to determine who they are, and to have their entitlement to rights determined according to our laws and policies,” Woodhouse Nepinak said.
Woodhouse Nepinak’s was testifying before the Senate about Bill S-2, which would update registration requirements under the Indian Act in accordance with the 2021 Supreme Court ruling in Nicholas v. Canada.
Bill S-2 was introduced last spring by Minister of Indigenous Services Mandy Gull-Masty to replace Bill C-38, which was unable to be ratified before the previous Parliament was dissolved.
“As Minister of Indigenous Services, eliminating gender-based inequities and colonial legacies in the Indian Act is a responsibility I take seriously,” Gull-Masty said.
Bill S-2 seeks to address ongoing discrimination in the Indian Act through several amendments, including replacing the term “mentally incompetent Indian” with “dependent person,” and restoring status to the women who lost it by marrying non-Indigenous people before 1985.
While Bill S-2 is currently before the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples, if passed into law, it is expected to allow 3,500 people to reclaim Indian Status.
Although Woodhouse Nepinak supported these reforms, she still urged the federal government to focus its efforts on aligning the Indian Act with how First Nations determine membership for themselves.
“We say to the government: accept it and stop trying to achieve effective budget cuts by cutting our people and trampling on our right to self-determination,” Woodhouse Nepinak said.
Within Kahnawake, membership is defined under the Kanien’kehá:ka of Kahnawake Law, which operates independently from the Indian Act.
Under this law, individuals with at least four great-grandparents born in Kahnawake automatically qualify as Kahnawa’kehró:non. Those who fall short of that threshold to still apply for residency, under the Kahnawake Residency Law..
Nevertheless, Woodhouse Nepinak said that nationally, Canada needs to better dedicate its efforts to addressing the inherent inequities within the Indian Act.
“There is something wrong that it is 2025 and we are still having these same discussions,” Woodhouse Nepinak said. “We need to work together to end the discrimination in the Indian Act.”
