In recent years, governments have thrown open the door to rights and benefits to people with no legitimate Indigenous entitlement.
There is a story told by one of the elders.
In the 1950s, officials from the Department of Indian Affairs came onto our reserve in the Matachewan First Nation to remove one of our families because they were no longer “status Indians” — that’s the legal term for whether someone is a “real” First Nations person in the eyes of the government.