Senate unanimously passes bill to eliminate Indian Act’s 2nd-generation cut-off

The Senate voted unanimously Thursday to advance Bill S-2 with an amendment calling for the removal of the second-generation cut-off from the Indian Act. 

Senators voted 63-0 in favour of the motion, with eight abstentions.

“Never in my wildest dreams would I ever have thought that I would be sitting in a Senate committee, reading out an amendment to erase subsection 6(2) of the Indian Act,” said Paul Prosper, a Mi’kmaw senator representing Nova Scotia, in an address ahead of the vote.

Subsection 6(2) or the second-generation cut-off refers to a rule in the Indian Act where children are not eligible for Indian status after two generations of one non-status parent. It was added to the act in 1985.

“It was an assurance that we would be eventually assimilated into Canadian society, as the lawmakers of the day knew that we could not survive if we were relegated to only marrying among ourselves to preserve status,” Prosper told the Senate.

Bill S-2 was originally designed as the latest in a series of amendments to Indian Act to address remaining sex-based discrimination in registration, often tied to historical enfranchisement, the surrendering of status to become a “full citizen.”

But during hearings of the Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous People, First Nations leaders, advocates, and community members shared deeply personal testimony on how the second-generation cut-off has fractured families and harmed communities.

This led to amendments to the bill to end the second-generation cut-off and restore a one-parent rule for status eligibility. 

Prosper told the Senate the impact of the amendments could affect approximately 300,000 people over the next 40 years.

Before Thursday’s vote, Sen. Jane McCallum, a citizen of Barren Lands First Nation in Manitoba, urged her colleagues to support the amended bill.

“I ask that you all stand behind First Nations, in particular, First Nations women and children, and vote in favour of passing Bill S-2 as amended,” said McCallum.

She noted that aside from one First Nation that was against the entirety of Bill S-2, the rest of those who gave testimony had “near-unanimous consensus.”

“The rest, which included Indigenous women’s organizations, individuals, experts, elders and youth, as well as individual First Nations and First Nations organizations that together represent all the First Nations in Canada, all supported the removal of the second-generation cut‑off,” she said.

“It’s important for the Senate to understand just how significant that is.“

Now that the Senate has approved Bill S-2, it will now move to the House of Commons. MPs must also vote on whether to accept the Senate’s amendments.