{"id":102400,"date":"2026-03-02T15:55:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T20:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=102400"},"modified":"2026-03-02T15:55:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T20:55:43","slug":"what-you-need-to-know-about-new-legislation-that-could-expand-first-nations-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/02\/what-you-need-to-know-about-new-legislation-that-could-expand-first-nations-status\/","title":{"rendered":"What you need to know about new legislation that could expand First Nations status"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Alessia Passafiume All four opposition parties in the House of Commons are backing legislation to change status rules in the Indian Act to end what is known as the second-generation cutoff. But the Liberals say while they support changes to registration eligibility, more consultations with First Nations are needed before the law is amended. The bill passed second reading in the House of Commons last week and will now go to the House of Commons Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee for further study. First Nations status is a highly complex and personal topic, and changes to the rules on who can claim status will have ripple effects throughout both First Nations communities and individual families with mixed legal standing under the Indian Act. First Nations status under the Indian&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F03%2F02%2Fwhat-you-need-to-know-about-new-legislation-that-could-expand-first-nations-status%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Alessia Passafiume All four opposition parties in the House of Commons are backing legislation to change status rules in the Indian Act to end what is known as the second-generation cutoff. But the Liberals say while they support changes to registration eligibility, more consultations with First Nations are needed before the law is amended. The bill passed second reading in the House of Commons last week and will now go to the House of Commons Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee for further study. First Nations status is a highly complex and personal topic, and changes to the rules on who can claim status will have ripple effects throughout both First Nations communities and individual families with mixed legal standing under the Indian Act. First Nations status under the Indian... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F03%2F02%2Fwhat-you-need-to-know-about-new-legislation-that-could-expand-first-nations-status%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What you need to know about new legislation that could expand First Nations status - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/02\/what-you-need-to-know-about-new-legislation-that-could-expand-first-nations-status\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What you need to know about new legislation that could expand First Nations status - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Alessia Passafiume All four opposition parties in the House of Commons are backing legislation to change status rules in the Indian Act to end what is known as the second-generation cutoff. But the Liberals say while they support changes to registration eligibility, more consultations with First Nations are needed before the law is amended. The bill passed second reading in the House of Commons last week and will now go to the House of Commons Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee for further study. First Nations status is a highly complex and personal topic, and changes to the rules on who can claim status will have ripple effects throughout both First Nations communities and individual families with mixed legal standing under the Indian Act. First Nations status under the Indian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/02\/what-you-need-to-know-about-new-legislation-that-could-expand-first-nations-status\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-02T20:55:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/02\\\/what-you-need-to-know-about-new-legislation-that-could-expand-first-nations-status\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/02\\\/what-you-need-to-know-about-new-legislation-that-could-expand-first-nations-status\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"What you need to know about new legislation that could expand First Nations status\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-02T20:55:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/02\\\/what-you-need-to-know-about-new-legislation-that-could-expand-first-nations-status\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1107,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/02\\\/what-you-need-to-know-about-new-legislation-that-could-expand-first-nations-status\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/02\\\/what-you-need-to-know-about-new-legislation-that-could-expand-first-nations-status\\\/\",\"name\":\"What you need to know about new legislation that could expand First Nations status - 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