DCHP-2

non-status Non-Status DCHP-2 (October 2016)

• adj. & n. — Aboriginal, often in compounds, e.g. non-status Indian

  a person with Indian ancestry who is not registered under the Indian Act.

  Type: 4. Culturally Significant — The term non-status refers to Aboriginal people who "identify themselves as Indians but who are not entitled to registration on the Indian Register pursuant to the Indian Act" (see AANDC reference). Thus, non-status Indians are not qualified to receive the federal and provincial services that status Indians are entitled to. Together with its counterpart (see status), this term is a central part of Canada's legal Aboriginal terminology. A number of rights are derived depending on an individual's classification as status or non-status (see the 1972 quotation). The concepts are derived from the Indian Act (see Canadian Encyclopedia, s.v. "Indian Act", see Indian Act), which was first passed in 1876.
  Changes of status can occur as a result of personal actions or through changes in the law. For example, prior to 1985, First Nations women lost their Indian status if they married a non-status Aboriginal man (see the 1980 and 1988 quotations). Bill C-31 sought to remove this discrimination and restore status and membership to those who had previously lost their status; however, this reinstatement of status includes a generational cut-off and does not cover all those who lost their status (see Bill C-31). As Chart 1 shows, the term is virtually limited to Canada.
  Gage-5, s.v. "non-status", marks the term "Cdn.", ITP Nelson defines the term as someone "recognized by the Cdn. government", COD-2 lists the term unlabelled, but qualifies the definition as "(in Canada)".

  See also: Indian Act  registered Indian  status  Bill C-31  

  • The terms status and registered are equivalent and used interchangeably, though the former is the more frequent variant today.

  • 1970  At present, a division in the Indian Affairs Department looks after cultural affairs among status, or registered, Indians, and Secretary of State Gerard Pettetier's department does the same for non-status Indians. 
  • 1972  The council brief to Mr. Pelletier said: "We like and support your approach to native problems in this country because it allows all natives, whether Indian, Eskimo, status or non-status, half-breed or half-blood to be treated as people." 
  • 1978  The council heard representations from the New Brunswick Association of Metis and Non-Status Indians concerning the problems of non-status Indian women resulting from a section of the Indian Act. 
  • 1980  The council represents both status and non-status Indians in the territory in the negotiation of aboriginal land claims. 
  • 1980  Indian women who divorce white husbands do not regain their native status. Almost two-thirds of B.C.'s 150,000 natives are non-status Indians, Mr. Wilson said. 
  • 1988  In 1985 the government passed Bill C-31, which was intended to remove all discrimination from the Indian Act and to restore status and band membership rights to all people who had lost them. That meant Indian women who marry non-status Indians would no longer lose their status; they would in turn transmit that status to their children. "Bill C-31 was supposed to correct the wrongs. And has it? Not really," says Mike McGoldrick of the Native Women's Association of Canada. "For years these people have been viewed as semi-outsiders. Now they are still waiting (for their status). People thought everything would be back to normal but after two years this is becoming a big mess. Even straightforward cases are being delayed." 
  • 1989  Ontario's 200,000 Metis and non-status Indians say they will resort to violence, if necessary, to force Ottawa and the province to recognize their rights as members of Canada's first nation. 
  • 1990  Native Indians have the poorest dental health of all B.C. adults. And while some status natives receive free dental care under federal auspices, non-status natives do not, Diggens said. 
  • 1990  Narda Iulg, senior adviser on aboriginal employment to the Native Council of Canada, said in an interview that the early years of Ottawa's 1983 affirmative-action policy for public service employees did some long-term damage to equality programs. "They grabbed anybody to put in a job. It was (taking) warm bodies off the street to keep dust off the chairs." The council represents non-status Indians. 
  • 2007  In Manitoba, aboriginal people are a thriving force. The 2001 Census pointed out that approximately 14 per cent of our province's population was aboriginal -- First Nations, non-status and Métis. 
  • 2010  "I'm not a chief under the Indian Act," Hunt said. "I'm a chief under Consumer and Corporate Affairs." He's incorporated the band under provincial laws in addition to Canada's copyright laws, to give the band patent protection. The band is made up of non-status Indians whose ancestors were left out of treaties and denied aboriginal rights guaranteed under Canada's constitution to First Nations status Indians, Hunt said. 
  • 2013  "When the survey was fully processed, we see a larger number of aboriginal people, particularly non-status Indians in general and in southern Canada more Inuit, than can reasonably be explained by natural increases," Mr. Smith said. "We actually linked back to records [from the] 2006 census and saw people switching. In 2006, they reported no aboriginal identity. In the 2011 NHS, they were suddenly reporting they were non-status Indians."