I see you are interested in learning more about your family.  I get many, many e-mails from individuals such as yourself on a regular basis. In 99 per cent of cases, your inquiry falls into two categories:

  1. You are interested in learning if you have Anishinaabe or First Nations lineage. I encourage you to do this to feel a closer kinship to our Nation and to learn more about your family, yourself and your identify. Sure, I would love to help and wish you all the success in the world. Unfortunately, you are in the minority. Sadly, most individuals inquiring (about 8 out of 10 people) are motivated by number 2, below.
  2. You are looking to get “Indian Status”. You are thinking that there are advantages and privileges to being “Native”. You are thinking about free school, free housing, free money, living tax-free. I’d be pleased to help dispel such contemporary stereotypes and myths.  Unfortunately, nothing in the world is free. It all requires hard work.

So before you begin:

To be registered as a Status Indian under the Indian Act, Section 6(1) continues the entitlement of persons registered as Indians before 1985, and reinstates women and their children who lost status through out-marriage and those who lost status or were entitled to registration due to enfranchisement (giving up status). For all intents and purposes, any registrations under Section 6(1) requires the applicant to have two parents who are or were entitled to be registered as a Status Indian.

Section 6(2) permits the registration of persons with only one parent entitled to be registered under section 6(1). The Act does not permit the registration of individuals with one non-status parent and one parent entitled to registration under section 6(2). This is known as the “second generation cut-off rule”. Indian Status would be terminated after two successive generations of intermarriage between Indians and non-Indians.

Let me sum up: You require at least one parent who is a registered Status Indian, or is entitled to be registered. 

Here is a link to the Aboriginal Genealogy Guide:

Here is a link to the Nipissing First Nation family database.

If you feel meet these requirements under the Indian Act Section 6 (1) or 6 (2), and are able to verify and certify your research and documentation, then follow the next steps in your registration with the Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada: