Mark Carney addresses the Assembly of First Nations Special Chiefs Assembly, which took place from December 2-4, 2025, at the Rogers Centre in Ottawa. Photo courtesy the Assembly of First Nations/X.

In 1920, Duncan Campbell Scott, the deputy superintendent general of the Department of Indian Affairs, testified before the House of Commons that the government’s intention was to “get rid of the Indian problem” and to “continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada.” That was 1920, so one could be forgiven for believing that times have changed, especially with the current Liberal government’s stated commitment to reconciliation. Yet the government is refusing to accept the Senate’s amendments to Bill S-2, which would end the Indian Act’s plan for the legislative extinction of First Nations.

Bill S-2, An Act to amend the Indian Act (new registration entitlements), was introduced in the Senate in response to the BC Supreme Court’s 2025 decision in Nicholas v. Canada. Canada conceded that preventing the Nicholas plaintiffs from registering under the Indian Act, or from transmitting status to their descendants, constituted discrimination based on race or ethnic origin in violation of the Charter’s section 15 equality guarantee. The court set a deadline for the federal government to amend the........

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