A quarter century after aboriginal women won the right to remain status Indians when they marry non-aboriginal men, new legislation proposes that their grandchildren also be entitled to the designation.
The changes suggested by the federal government yesterday would add about 45,000 people to the Indian Register and have native leaders fearing that Ottawa would not help reserves with the costs of a sudden influx of people.
There is disagreement within the native community over who should have status, and many bands have their own membership codes to determine who is entitled to live in their jurisdiction. The government also does not yet know what the actual cost would be, because there is no way of predicting how many people would apply and what benefits they would want.
Like other status Indians, the people who gained status would be entitled to such benefits as tax exemptions if they live and work on reserves, extended health coverage, and the potential for special post-secondary financial assistance.
The legislation, which marks the first time the Indian Act has been opened in 25 years, comes after a 2009 ruling by the British Columbia Court of Appeal that the act discriminates between men and women. The government was given until April 6 of this year to make it right.
"It is correcting a gender discrimination issue so, on the one hand, you can't ignore that," said Joseph Quesnel, an aboriginal policy analyst with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
"On the other hand, there is always the pressure on services. If you are a status Indian, according to the federal government you are entitled to all the benefits that come with it."
When the law was changed in 1985 to give status back to about 16,000 women and 45,000 children, bands had to cope with an increase in demand for on-reserve services with little extra federal money to help. First nations leaders fear a repeat of that scenario.
Chuck Strahl, the federal Minister of Indian Affairs, said he is prepared to open discussions with aboriginal organizations about funding and other matters that arose last fall when the government held information sessions about how they proposed to make the change.
"What became clear is that there are a whole bunch of issues that are at least as important to first nations [as money] and they do deal with things like membership, treaty rights, who has the right to make these determinations," said the minister.
British Columbia Regional Chief Jody Wilson-Raybould welcomed the legislation on behalf of the Assembly of First Nations. She agreed with Mr. Strahl that it is crucial to have consultations leading to "full-fledged, legitimate first nations' jurisdiction over our identity."
The court ruling that forced the creation of the new legislation came in a case brought by Sharon McIvor, a B.C. lawyer and activist who argued in 2007 that the Indian Act treats the descendents of men and women differently.
Ms. McIvor said yesterday that the new law does not go far enough because parts of the Indian Act are still discriminatory.
"They have taken care of a little bit of the past discrimination that is filtering down to the grandchildren," she said. "That's all they have done. It's a very small thread."
Mr. Strahl said there is little consensus among aboriginal people regarding who should get status.
"Some first nations say it doesn't go far enough and they are worried that there won't be any status Indians left in a hundred years.
"And there is another group of people, equally vocal, who say, 'I am worried that you are going to add so many people to the status rolls that we won't be able to handle them all,' " Mr. Strahl said.
Many aboriginal women who fought their own battles for status are pleased that the government has acted.
Nellie Carson, who is from the Saddle Lake reserve north of Edmonton, said that 50 years ago, when she was 22, her dying mother gave her a mission.
She said: " 'You fight [to ensure that]that my grandchildren are going to be entitled to status rights,' " Ms. Carlson said in a telephone interview. "She had tears in her eyes begging me to do this. 'Don't be afraid,' she said. 'Just say yes.' "
It was a request that required Ms. Carlson to challenge both the government and members of her own community.
"We fought for it for so many years, me and my cousin and others who were involved. Most of them are gone now," said Ms. Carlson, whose husband was the product of a marriage between an Indian woman and a Swedish man.
"We were speaking on behalf of our grandchildren," she said.