Genocide, Indian Policy, and Legislated Elimination of Indians in Canada

 The primary objective of early Indian policy was to ensure the eventual disappearance of Indians – a goal which has not changed in hundreds of years. The registration provisions in the Indian Act will achieve this goal through entitlement criteria, which ensures legislative extinction  after  two  generations  of  marrying  out.  This  has  resulted  in  two  separate  legal  categories of federally recognized registrants: status and non-status Indians, where membership in one group or the other determines access to essential services, band membership and more. The  denial  of  federal  recognition  to  non-status  Indians  has  also  resulted,  in  some  cases,  in  the erosion of Indigenous identity, culture, and communal connection. Court-based remedies have done little to address these ongoing injustices and Canada has shown little interest in a significant policy change.