http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100032472/1100100032473

There is a host of criteria to determine whether or not a First Nations person qualifies as a ‘Status’ Indian. This is defined in the Indian Act. Again, not referred to as the First Nations Act but the ‘Indian’ Act. The Government has an Indian Register that is he official record identifying all Status Indians in Canada. Here is a summary of the qualification criteria:

• You were entitled to registration prior to the changing of the Indian Act on April 17, 1985;
• You lost your Indian Status as a result of your marriage to a non-Indian man (s. 12(1)(b)), including enfranchisement upon your marriage to a non-Indian man (s. 109(2));
• Your mother and father’s mother did not have status under the Indian Act, before their marriage and you lost your status at the age of 21 (s.12 (1)(a)(iv) – referred to commonly as the double-mother rule);
• Your registration was successfully protested on the grounds that your father did not have status under the Indian Act, however your mother had status;
• You lost your registration because you or your parents applied to give up registration and First Nation membership through the process known as “enfranchisement”; or
• You are a child of persons listed in 1 to 5 above;

I only include this to illustrate that being ‘Status’ is not as easy as saying that you are First Nations or Indian. Based on ancestry and marriage, each generation apply to be registered and fit the registration criteria in order to be classified as Status and received the entitled benefits.

So what is the Indian Act…post #5!