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Two news stories concerning how present legislation is quickly eliminating the recognition of STATUS Indians and all the inherent and treaty rights that exist for First Nation people with status.

From the BayToday.ca http://www.baytoday.ca/content/news/details.asp?c=22063

Only self-government can address First Nations citizenship
By Kate Adams
BayToday.ca, October 04, 2007

Nipissing First Nation News Release

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First Nations citizens will never disappear so long as they retain their inherent right to manage their own affairs.

Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief John Beaucage was responding to a CBC news report based on studies that project the extinction of so-called "Status Indians" within six generations.

"This is not news to us," said Beaucage, speaking on behalf of 42 Anishinabek First Nations. "But Stewart Clatworthy's studies are based on an outdated premise -- that the primary definition of First Nation citizenship will be determined by the Indian Act, a 131-year-old colonial document that even the Government of Canada says needs to be tossed out."

"The right to determine our own citizenship is at the heart of our self-government negotiations," said the Grand Council Chief, who said he will be broaching the topic with Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl in the next few weeks as part of discussions about the establishment of a new Anishinabek Nation self-government framework.

Following a unanimous resolution passed by Anishinabek Chiefs-in-Assembly in June, Beaucage said the Anishinabek Nation is embarking on a process to establish their own law on Citizenship and individual First Nation citizenship codes this fall.

"We reject the Indian Act in its attempt to determine who our citizens are and in so doing we reject the very concept of Indian Status. The Indian Act and the Government of Canada cannot determine who our citizens are, any more than we can determine who theirs are. Only First Nation governments can make that determination for themselves."

The Grand Council Chief is calling for the complete elimination of the Indian Act in favour of implementation of the treaties and the inherent right to self-government.

"As Nations and as leaders, we need to move out from under the veiled protections of the Indian Act," he said "We need to move from chasing government programs and move forward on a comprehensive initiative to restore our Nationhood and citizenship through self-government.

"We will rise up in unity, create our own forms of government and pass our own citizenship laws," said Beaucage, comparing the "Status Indian" concept to outdated assimilationist policies like the notorious network of Indian Residential Schools.

"The government needs to move beyond limiting our rights and thwarting our Nationhood," he added. "We challenge Canada to work with us to achieve the inevitable: a prosperous and sovereign Anishinabek Nation within Canada."

Currently, the Anishinabek Nation is in the late stages of self-government negotiations respecting core governance and education issues. This will lead to recognition of Anishinabek Nation laws governing constitutions, selection of leadership, appeals and redress, fiscal relations and a new Anishinabek education system.

The Anishinabek Nation incorporated the Union of Ontario Indians as its secretariat in 1949. The UOI is a political advocate for 42 member First Nations across Ontario. The Union of Ontario Indians is the oldest political organization in Ontario and can trace its roots back to the Confederacy of Three Fires, which existed long before European contact.

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CBC News - http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2007/10/04/status-indians.html

Federal laws could eliminate status Indians over time: demographer
October 4, 2007

No status Indians could be left in Canada within 200 years if current laws defining who qualifies are not changed, according to a Winnipeg demographer.

Currently, federal legislation eliminates the treaty status of some children if one parent is a certain type of registered Indian and the other is not.

That means fewer and fewer children will qualify for status, Winnipeg demographer Stewart Clatworthy told CBC News.

"If nothing changes and intermarriage rates stay the same, and the rules of the act stay the same, and you string it out long enough, you could essentially create a situation where there would be no one born who would qualify," Clatworthy said Thursday.

Within six generations — roughly 180 years — Clatworthy's projections suggest no one born could qualify to register as a status Indian.

Status Indians are entitled certain rights and payments not available to other aboriginal Canadians, depending on the terms of their treaty — for example, hunting and fishing rights on unoccupied land, tax exemptions and free post-secondary education.

Statistics show the number of status Indians is, indeed, starting to drop, despite the fact the aboriginal population is increasing.

"I have done projections for First Nations which are facing rapid declines in their populations associated with the loss of entitlement at this point in time," Clatworthy said.

"Some of those First Nations could become extinct in the legal sense, having no one entitled or no one born who is further entitled to registration."

Changes to the Indian Act would be required to prevent continued reduction in numbers, Clatworthy said.