The first statute that appears in the history is in Upper and Lower Canada, pre-Confederation, in 1850. It was the first definition we saw of the concept of “Indian”. Also, it wasn't about the definition of an Indian. Those statutes were about protecting the land base, or essentially what we now call reserves.
The definition of Indian in pre-Confederation legislation that we saw in both Upper Canada and Lower Canada was very sex neutral. It was more akin to the rules or criteria that the first nations themselves had in defining who belonged to them and who didn't. That continued until about 1866 or 1867.
Post-Confederation, we see the first law, which was the gradual enfranchisement act of 1869, which basically establishes very patrilineal descent rules and sex-based criteria. It begins to exclude Métis, or those folks who identify as Métis, from registration. It continued that way basically until 1985 and over certain amendment periods. The Indian Act back then was being amended every two, three, or four years.
The 1951 Indian Act amendments were very comprehensive and they essentially established the system of registration as we know now, with an Indian registrar and status and non-status. Subsequent to that, the other reform that happened was in 1985, with the charter being in effect and trying to address all the inequities that flowed, essentially, beginning in 1869 through the Indian Act all the way to 1985. There were massive amendments in 1985. I don't think folks could foresee how the charter would operate vis-à-vis the Indian Act, because it was all new to everybody. Also, we had the constitutional amendments in 1982 that introduced Canada's recognition of aboriginal and treaty rights, so the interplay of registration membership, individual rights, and collective rights became a much more complex endeavour.
Just in respect of Métis, we anticipate under stage two that we will be speaking with Métis individuals and communities and the Métis nation around deregistration. As a result of the amendments that happened in 1985 and in 2010-11, a number of Métis individuals became eligible for registration and registered, but because the authority of the Indian registrar to unregister somebody was removed in 1985, they can't deregister and join their Métis collectivity, as is happening now in Alberta, Manitoba, and whatnot. That is one area we'll be looking at specific to the Métis situation, and we hope to be talking with Métis folks under stage two.