{"id":99123,"date":"2025-11-11T13:53:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T18:53:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=99123"},"modified":"2025-11-11T14:03:53","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T19:03:53","slug":"bill-s-2-and-the-fight-to-belong-when-identity-meets-bureaucracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/11\/bill-s-2-and-the-fight-to-belong-when-identity-meets-bureaucracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill S-2 and the Fight to Belong: When Identity Meets Bureaucracy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By John Wirth, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News Bill S-2, officially An Act to amend the Indian Act, is a reintroduction of bill C-38, which never became law before the federal government dissolved. As of October 21, 2025, S-2 is before a Senate committee. It proposes amendments to four key areas of the Indian Act: enfranchisement, voluntary deregistration, natal Band reaffiliation, and outdated language. Each of these changes carries real implications for how Indigenous identity is recognized in Canada. Speaking on behalf of The Assembly of First Nations, National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, \u201cendorses legislative amendments to the Indian Act that repeal the Second Generation Cut-Off Rule and introduce a system whereby an individual who is a direct descendant of a status Indian, or an individual entitled to&#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%2F2025%2F11%2F11%2Fbill-s-2-and-the-fight-to-belong-when-identity-meets-bureaucracy%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By John Wirth, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News Bill S-2, officially An Act to amend the Indian Act, is a reintroduction of bill C-38, which never became law before the federal government dissolved. As of October 21, 2025, S-2 is before a Senate committee. It proposes amendments to four key areas of the Indian Act: enfranchisement, voluntary deregistration, natal Band reaffiliation, and outdated language. Each of these changes carries real implications for how Indigenous identity is recognized in Canada. Speaking on behalf of The Assembly of First Nations, National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, \u201cendorses legislative amendments to the Indian Act that repeal the Second Generation Cut-Off Rule and introduce a system whereby an individual who is a direct descendant of a status Indian, or an individual entitled to... <\/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%2F2025%2F11%2F11%2Fbill-s-2-and-the-fight-to-belong-when-identity-meets-bureaucracy%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-99123","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 v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bill S-2 and the Fight to Belong: When Identity Meets Bureaucracy - 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\/2025\/11\/11\/bill-s-2-and-the-fight-to-belong-when-identity-meets-bureaucracy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bill S-2 and the Fight to Belong: When Identity Meets Bureaucracy - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By John Wirth, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News Bill S-2, officially An Act to amend the Indian Act, is a reintroduction of bill C-38, which never became law before the federal government dissolved. As of October 21, 2025, S-2 is before a Senate committee. It proposes amendments to four key areas of the Indian Act: enfranchisement, voluntary deregistration, natal Band reaffiliation, and outdated language. Each of these changes carries real implications for how Indigenous identity is recognized in Canada. Speaking on behalf of The Assembly of First Nations, National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, \u201cendorses legislative amendments to the Indian Act that repeal the Second Generation Cut-Off Rule and introduce a system whereby an individual who is a direct descendant of a status Indian, or an individual entitled to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/11\/bill-s-2-and-the-fight-to-belong-when-identity-meets-bureaucracy\/\" \/>\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=\"2025-11-11T18:53:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-11T19:03:53+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\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/11\\\/bill-s-2-and-the-fight-to-belong-when-identity-meets-bureaucracy\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/11\\\/bill-s-2-and-the-fight-to-belong-when-identity-meets-bureaucracy\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Bill S-2 and the Fight to Belong: When Identity Meets Bureaucracy\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-11T18:53:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-11T19:03:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/11\\\/bill-s-2-and-the-fight-to-belong-when-identity-meets-bureaucracy\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":995,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/11\\\/bill-s-2-and-the-fight-to-belong-when-identity-meets-bureaucracy\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/11\\\/bill-s-2-and-the-fight-to-belong-when-identity-meets-bureaucracy\\\/\",\"name\":\"Bill S-2 and the Fight to Belong: When Identity Meets Bureaucracy - 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