Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Calls on Canada to End Legislative Assimilation as Senate and Auditor General Confirm Chronic Failures
July 2, 2025
Treaty One Territory, Manitoba
AMC Communications
Treaty One Territory, Manitoba – July 2, 2025 The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) is calling on the Government of Canada to finally end its colonial control over First Nations identity through the Indian Act’s status registration system, a system confirmed yet again to be deeply broken and underfunded by both the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance and the Auditor General of Canada.
The Main Estimates 2025–2026 Senate report shows that nearly one-third of First Nations receive only the bare minimum of $5,000 per year for a community-based registration administrator — the equivalent of one day of work per week at wages lower than any province’s minimum wage. The Auditor General’s Report 1 (Registration Under the Indian Act) tabled in June found that more than 80% of applications processed at Indigenous Services Canada headquarters exceed the six-month service standard — with some families waiting years. The backlog now sits at nearly 12,000 applications, with hundreds of Elders and priority cases left in limbo.
“This is not an oversight. It is deliberate control and failure,” said Grand Chief Kyra Wilson. “We are seeing a decline in registered status numbers not because our population is shrinking but because families can’t get their loved ones registered due to underfunding and bureaucratic backlogs. This means they are denied housing, health care, education, and post-secondary support that are all basic services they are entitled to through our Treaties. Status registration under the Indian Act was designed to keep First Nations dependent and divided. It must end.”
The Auditor General also found that the federal funding formula for local administrators has not changed since 1994. Trusted source partners must reapply every year with no stable funding, and the Department routinely fails to follow its own training and monitoring policies. Despite a legal obligation to gradually transfer responsibilities to First Nations, there is still no plan, no updated funding model, and no accountability for progress. AMC’s Chiefs-in-Assembly have consistently affirmed that First Nations have the inherent jurisdiction to determine our own citizens according to our laws and customs. Yet Canada continues to treat First Nations differently than Métis governments, who are allowed to develop and control their own citizenship codes, and from others who benefit from federal policies that accept self-declaration and self-identification in hiring, procurement, and program eligibility. This double standard not only undermines First Nations’ inherent jurisdiction but directly enables identity fraud, confusion, and the erosion of Treaty rights.
“Our families have waited long enough,” said Grand Chief Wilson. “We have tried to work directly with the federal government on this issue, including through the UNDA Action Plan, but have been told that the process is now paused with no restart in sight. We sent letters before the last federal election, demanding a clear Cabinet mandate, budget, and timeline to end legislative assimilation and transition control back to our Nations. We expect the new Ministers to do what their predecessors would not, and I have written them to have them engage directly with the AMC and its member First Nations to co-develop a plan rooted in Treaties, inherent rights, and Nation-to-Nation relationships. This must be the generation that ends the Indian Act’s control over who we are,” said Grand Chief Wilson. “We stand ready to do the work. Canada must do the same.”
For more information, please contact:
Communications Team
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs
Email: media@manitobachiefs.com
About The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs:
The AMC was formed in 1988 by the Chiefs in Manitoba to advocate on issues that commonly affect First Nations in Manitoba. AMC is an authorized representative of all 63 First Nations in Manitoba with a total of more than 172,000 First Nations citizens in the province, accounting for approximately 12 percent of the provincial population. AMC represents a diversity of Anishinaabe, Nehetho / Ininew, Anisininew, Denesuline, and Dakota Oyate peoples.