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IndigenousDemocracy & rights

New Indian Act registration rules

S-2 An Act to amend the Indian Act (new registration entitlements)

Expands who qualifies for First Nations (Indian) status following a Charter challenge, and lets them join departmental band lists.

What Bill S-2 would do

The bill would amend the Indian Act to create new entitlements to registration in the Indian Register following a Charter challenge in Nicholas v. Canada. People who gain status under these rules would also have the right to have their names added to band lists maintained by the Department of Indigenous Services. The published material gives no further detail.

Official text

Official summary

This enactment amends the Indian Act to provide, among other things, new entitlements to registration in the Indian Register in response to the challenge of certain provisions of the Act under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Nicholas v. Canada (Attorney General) and that the persons who have become so entitled also have the right to have their names entered in a Band List maintained in the Department of Indigenous Services. Available on the Senate of Canada website at the following address: www.sencanada.ca/en 1st Session, 45th Parliament, 3 Charles III, 2025 SENATE OF CANADA BILL S-2 An Act to amend the Indian Act (new registration entitlements) His Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows: R.‍S.‍, c.

I-5

The government's summary, printed at the front of the bill as introduced.

Kind
Government bill
Sponsor
Marc Gold, Senator
Introduced
in the Senate
Last activity

Where it stands

  1. ProposedMay 29, 2025
  2. Being studiedsince Feb 27 Exact stageAt consideration in committee in the House of Commons · Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs · since February 27, 2026A committee of MPs or senators is going through it line by line.
  3. Almost law
  4. Law

Passed the Senate; now in the House, in committee there

  1. First reading in the Senate done

    Before the Senate on 1 sitting day,

  2. Second reading in the Senate done

    Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples

    Before the Senate on 4 sitting days, to

  3. Committee in the Senate done

    Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples

    Before the Senate on 1 sitting day,

  4. Report stage in the Senate done

    Standing Senate Committee on Indigenous Peoples

    Before the Senate on 2 sitting days, to

  5. Third reading in the Senate done

    Before the Senate on 2 sitting days, to

  6. First reading in the House done

    Before the House on 1 sitting day,

  7. Second reading in the House done

    Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs

    Before the House on 1 sitting day,

    2nd reading and referral to committee - INAN: agreed to on division,

  8. Committee in the House now

    Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs

  9. Report stage in the House not yet

  10. Third reading in the House not yet

  11. Royal assent not yet

Exact procedural stages

Officially: At consideration in committee in the House of Commons · Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs · since February 27, 2026.

  1. Senate
  2. House
  3. Royal assent

Debates in the House 0

No debate on this bill is in the record we hold yet (Senate debates are not covered).

Also raised in 7

Question Period, members' statements and other debates where the bill came up.

Show 7

  1. Indigenous Affairs

    · Oral Questions · named 1 time

  2. Indigenous Affairs

    · Oral Questions · named 2 times

  3. Routine Proceedings

    · Routine Proceedings · named 3 times

  4. Indigenous Affairs

    · Oral Questions · named 2 times

  5. Indigenous Affairs

    · Oral Questions · named 4 times

  6. Government Orders

    · Government Orders · named 1 time

  7. Business of Supply

    · Government Orders · named 1 time

Discussion

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Status, stages and votes from LEGISinfo. Debates are linked from the House's own record of what was before it. Grades are the site's analysis of each statement.