Image: Cover of Yellowhead Institute’s special report Acting Indian: Reflections on Status, Citizenship & Belonging
Bill S-2 is still before Parliament. Its final shape has not yet been decided. That makes this an important moment to think carefully about what legal reform can do — and what questions it leaves for First Nation governments, communities, and citizens to determine for themselves.
In our contribution to Yellowhead Institute’s special report, Acting Indian: Reflections on Status, Citizenship & Belonging, we take up that question through a relational ethics of care. Our piece, “Bill S-2 and the Indian Act: Relational Ethics of Care,” considers whether amendments to the Indian Act should be understood only as a matter of constitutional compliance, or also as part of a broader conversation about relationships, responsibility, and belonging.
We recognize that First Nations hold different views on Bill S-2, including on the proposed removal of the second-generation cut-off. Those differences matter. Rather than attempting to resolve those questions, our contribution asks how discussions of legislative reform can remain attentive to relationships, Indigenous legal orders, and relational responsibilities that the Indian Act has never captured.
The full report brings together reflections from Jackson Pind, Gina Starblanket, Damien Lee, Vanessa Watts, and Michaela McGuire, alongside our own contribution. It was edited by Hayden King, coordinated by Ash Vols, copy edited by Jasmyn Galley, and designed by Troy Beyer, with cover art by Nadia Myre and inside art by Luanne Redeye.
We are grateful to Yellowhead Institute for making space for this dialogue, and to the authors, artists, and editorial team whose work invites a careful conversation about status, citizenship, and belonging at a moment when these questions remain live and deeply important.
Read the full report here: https://yellowheadinstitute.org/report/acting-indian-reflections-on-status-citizenship-belonging/