New BrunswickSenator Paul Propser says he plans to introduce amendments to Bill S-2 to remove the second generation cut-off, which does not allow status to be passed to children after two generations where only one parent has status. Additional changes were recommended by some during Senate hearings on billSilas Brown · CBC News · Posted: Nov 13, 2025 3:59 PM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Paul Prosper, a Mi’kmaw senator from Nova Scotia, wants to see more changes to Bill S-2. (Silas Brown/CBC)Some senior Maritime Indigenous leaders are backing an effort to see a bill intended to remove discriminatory registration clauses from the Indian Act expanded. Sen. Paul Prosper says he plans to introduce amendments to Bill S-2 to remove the second-generation cut-off, which does not allow status to be passed to children after two generations where only one parent has status. “There has to be a shift from those narrow rules that currently exist within the Indian Act to a recognition of the rights of Indigenous people, Indigenous nations, to determine their own membership in accordance to their own customs, values and traditions,” he said at an event in Fredericton on Thursday. Bill S-2 is intended to address registration discrimination in the Indian Act. The bill would allow for the re-establishment of status for people who lost it through enfranchisement, an often involuntary loss of status, and to extend status to their descendants. Keptin Fred Metallic spoke about the importance of ensuring the Mi’kmaq make their own rules about who is and isn’t part of the nation. (Mikael Mayer/Radio-Canada)However, critics have said the bill doesn’t go far enough because it maintains the second-generation cut-off.Keptin Fred Metallic of Listuguj First Nation appeared in Fredericton with Mi’kmaw Grand Chief Norman Sylliboy and Sitansisk First Nation Chief Alan Polchies to back Prosper’s proposal. WATCH | ‘There has to be a shift from those narrow rules,’ senator says:Mi’kmaw Grand Council wants further changes to proposed Indian Act amendmentsThe Mi’kmaw Grand Council and at least one Wolastoqey chief are backing amendments to a federal bill that would end the second generation cut-off. “Canada for decades now has been deciding by itself who will be a Mi’kmaq, how the Mi’kmaq will participate in governance and how the Mi’kmaq will continue to pass on their tradition, their identity, their customs and teachings,” Metallic said. Prosper’s amendments would see movement to a one-parent rule, acknowledging people who fall under the second-generation cut-off as registered under the Indian Act. It would also make sure that those who would be newly eligible to be registered would be added to the band lists. Polchies, the only Wolastoqey leader to speak at the event, painted a picture of a dwindling number of people in his band who would be able to receive status without the additional changes. “I’m on the brink in at least 10, 20 years, I won’t have any registered Indians in my community because of a bill that the Government of Canada has on the table,” he said. “Today we have the opportunity to change that.”When asked how confident he is that his amendments will receive support from his colleagues in the Senate, Prosper pointed to hearings on the bill where the majority of 60 witnesses called for the end of the second-generation cut-off to be included. ABOUT THE AUTHORSilas Brown is a Fredericton-based video journalist. You can reach him at silas.brown@cbc.ca.
Mikmaw Grand Council, Sitansisk chief back removal of 2nd-generation cut-off from Indian Act
