Alberta leads way on C-31 membership codes

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Northern Alberta Indian bands have led the way in taking control of their membership under Bill C-31.

Seven of the first 12 bands to establish band membership codes in response to Bill C-31 are from northern Alberta, two are from B.C., two from Ontario and one from Saskatchewan.

The first band in the country to take control of its membership was the Sawridge band of Slave Lake. Its membership code went into effect July 8, 1985 ? less than two weeks after C-31 provisions allowing bands to establish codes went into effect.

By establishing membership codes, a band avoids a wholesale dumping of those enstated under C-31 onto their band lists.

"The impact of a band not having a membership code will be that first generation (descendants of disenfranchised band members) and others will simply be tacked on to band lists," says Jim Allan of the Department of Indian Affairs (DIA).

While membership codes cannot keep out those who have been struck from band lists (and the Indian Register) unjustly, they can be used to restrict their descendants.

The question in Alberta is, for the present, academic since only two individuals have asked to return to their ancestral reserve (as compared with 469 in B.C., 290 in Manitoba and 193 in Quebec).

Besides Sawridge, other Alberta bands that have assumed control of their membership codes are Lubicon, Swan River, Horse Lake, Ermineskin, Driftpile, and Fort McMurray.

As of June 28, the closing date for the government's moratorium on additions to the band lists, 26 in Alberta's 43 bands (and 149 of 615 across the country) had submitted membership codes for DIA's approval.

The moratorium is being extended for these bands and any other bands that posted their codes to DIA before the June 28 deadline.

At the end of last May, approximately 90,000 people had applied for entitlement under C-31, roughly 11,000 applying from Alberta.

Of the 90,000 approximately 30,000 have been added to the Indian Register and 6,500 have been turned down. In Alberta, just over 2,700 have been reinstated and about 670 have been turned down.