Economies prior to the late 20th Century
As we have learned, the Indian Act applies to First Nations people who signed treaties with the federal government or who were on another occasion recorded as belonging to a First Nation Band, and to their descendants – if the descendants’ Indigenous ancestry is not too diluted with non-Indigenous ancestry.
The federal government maintains the Status registry, deciding by its own rules who is Indian enough for Status benefits.
How can Status be lost?
For many years, roughly 1830-1960, it was the aim of the Canadian government to reduce the number of people with Status by removing Status from women who married non-Status men, and by removing Status from men in through a process known as enfranchisement.
Enfranchisement was automatic if a person became a doctor, lawyer, or Christian minister, or if he (or she) otherwise earned a university degree. Leaving the reserve to fight for Canada in WWI or WWII could also require or result in a loss of Indian Status. Anyone living outside Canada for more than 5 years without permission was enfranchised. A portion of the band’s assets would be transferred to him.[1]
In 1951, a restriction for men was added to the Indian Act: if the man’s mother had been non-Status, and if his wife was non-Status, then the husband’s status would not be enough to give his child status after age of 21. This new rule was not retroactive; it only applied to children whose parents married after the amendment was passed. Note that the sex discrimination was not eliminated. If a woman married out, she and her children lost Status immediately. If a man married out, and his son also married out, the grandchildren would lose Status after age 21.
One important consequence of losing Status is that, depending on the Band’s wishes, the person might lose their right to live on reserve. Federal funding has been in proportion to the number of Status people living on reserve, and non-Status residents are sometimes resented for using the scarce resources on reserve.
After years of Indigenous litigation against the government, in Canada and before the United Nations, the federal government was forced to undo this sex discrimination with Bills C-31 (1985) and S-31 (2017, in force 2019). These pieces of legislation amend the Indian Act so that:
- There is no more enfranchisement. A Status person can never lose their status.
- Status women who married non-Status men after 1951 (Bill C-31) or 1869-1951 (Bill S-31) regain their Status. This affects the status of their descendants.
- Children born after 1951 to a Status parent and a non-Status parent have Status, but it is only half-Status in the sense that, if they also marry a non-Status person when they become adults, their children will have no Status. This is the “second generation cut-off rule.”
- The children of two half-Status persons will have full status.
- The children of a half-Status person and a full Status person will have full status.
- The rig