Proud to have my status as an ‘Indian’ affirmed

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/07/2021 (1889 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I received a letter from Indigenous Service Canada on June 29, 2021 thanking me for my application for registration under the Indian Act. They were also pleased to confirm that I am now registered as an Indian in accordance with section 6(1) (a.3) of the Indian Act.

As I was reading the letter, my hands started to shake, and tears started to flow from my eyes. My kids asked if I was okay and I replied, “I’m an Indian.” With a big smile on my face, I wiped my eyes and finished reading the letter stating the community in which our family is from, the Animbiigoo Zaagi’igan Anishinabek First Nation. I could feel myself glowing with pride, and I shared with my kids what it meant to be proud of one’s identity.

Growing up I’ve always known who I was. I was a half-breed. I am light brown, I was a mix of cultures with a background of Anishinaabe (Ojibway), French and Scottish. I was a Non-Status Indian as described under the Indian Act and started to learn more about these laws in my 20s and into the new millennium.

For a lot of you reading, this is the point in which you start asking yourself, “What is the Indian Act, and why are you so excited to be an Indian?” Please keep reading, and for those of you who have some knowledge of the Indian Act and understand the circumstances behind an application to be registered as an Indian in this great county of Canada, miigwetch for taking time to learn about regulations and laws that have been in place for the past 145 years that has allowed the government to have authority over areas of Indian Status, land, resources, education, and band administration on First Nation reserves.

Since 1876, the Indian Act has given Canada the regulation in areas of policy-driven law that has affected Indigenous peoples still to this day. Why would I know this information and why would I bother to understand the terms of its act?

Before receiving the letter of my Indian Status, I had identified as a Non-Status Indian and this was very educational not only for myself, but also in sharing with others why the term was necessary and what it meant. Because my First Nations mother married a non-Indigenous man in 1976, she lost her Indian Status. But because of Bill C-31 she was able to re-apply for her Indian Status after changes were made to the Indian Act in 1985.

Why did I wait so long to apply for my government-issued identification card to tell me who I was? As mentioned, I have always known who I am, but like so many other Indigenous Canadians we don’t always have the opportunity or benefit of having all the required information to make an application, the funds to apply for the required pieces of information in the first place or the doors for help didn’t always exist.

About a year and a half ago we were lucky enough to have an event held in Brandon that offered the opportunity for members of the community and region to apply for their Secure Certificate for Indian Status, and so I applied.

At a time right now in Canada, with what we are seeing on the news and in our communities, we know it has not always been a place of pride in being able to identify as an Indian, and I hate to say it but we had shame for who we were as Indigenous peoples and how we saw ourselves being treated by others. We also have a colonized history of displacement, unjust, and racism that still exists today, however times of change are upon us, and we are still learning every day how we can make tomorrow better.

On July 9, 2021, my official Secure Certificate for Indian Status identity document, or better known as the Status Card, showed up in my mailbox. I will be turning 45-years-old in a couple of weeks and to be achieving moments of such clarity with my identity humbles me as a person. We are raised with values, morals, stories and teachings and it is our stories that impact our children and new knowledge for implementing our next steps to identifying our cultural selves.

Oh Status, my Status. We are reminded of our pasts every day in Canada and as an Indian of this land I can proudly stand strong and have hope for our next seven generations. But we must face the truths of a past in order to understand and support reconciliation in our future.