Course:ELEC300E/CaseStudies/IndianRegistry
A quick note on terminology here: Using the term 'Indian' to describe Indigenous people is generally considered outdated and offensive and is discouraged. It is still used in legal frameworks and definitions though (eg. "The Indian Act"), which is why you'll see it here. Did you know that Indigenous people still have "Indian Status Cards"?
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Context: The Indian Register
The British Empire entered into treaties with the Indigenous peoples that occupy the country we call Canada. These treaties guaranteed certain rights to members of these peoples. Canada was granted independence in 1867 from Britain and in 1876 introduced the "Indian Act".
The Indian Act and other legislation from the same period defined who was considered "Indian" based on descent through the male line. Women and children were included under the man's name, meaning that if an Indigenous women married a non-Indigenous man, she and her children would no longer have status.
The purpose of these laws was to assimilate Indigenous peoples through enfranchisement. This cancelled legal recognition of an individual’s band membership, treaty rights and status rights in exchange for full Canadian citizenship, and removal from Indian Act restrictions. Note that when a man enfranchised, his wife and descendants would lose status too!
Enfranchisement was ended, and the gender-based differences were removed in 1985.
Case: Anishnaabe Citizenship - Debandaagziwin
The Anishnaabe are a group of nations that are culturally and linguistically related. These nations traditionally reside in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. The Anishnaabe concept of citizenship is called Debandaagziwin.
In this video, John Borrows explains Debandaagziwin, and the main Anishinaabe principles that citizenship is based on.
"I want to talk about principles that we can identify, that we could measure Indian status against, that we could measure what we do when we think about citizenship against. And if our laws fall short of these principles, they might be valid in terms of the passage by a council, by recognition under federal Indian law, but I wonder if they are valid in relationship to those things that have been passed onto us through time. That is, are the laws that we're working with really the principles, the standards, the criteria that our ancestors wanted us to follow in creating sense of community?" - John Borrows
In other words, Borrows discusses how the federal legislation differs from the Anishnaabe principles, and calls for those laws to be reevaluated to be more representative of Anishnaabe tradition. He concludes:
Now, these are very broad concepts that might seem too ambiguous to enact as legal principles. Let me suggest that the concepts of equality and liberty and security and assembly and freedom of speech, etc., are also vague, ambiguous concepts, but they're given meaning through practice and through interpretation and Anishinaabe people can give meaning to these concepts through practice and through interpretation.
Federal legislation governs who is included in the Indian Register, but other aspects are more technical. What information is included? What are the potential privacy and security concerns, for a database with large amounts of sensitive data? Just as Anishnaabe principles could inform legislation, they could also inform database design.
Required Reading
7 minute speech by John Borrows (in particular 2:05 - 9:00), although the whole video is interesting!) https://www.koognaasewin.com/blog/debandaagziwin-citizenshipmembership (or read the transcript)
Discussion Questions
Here are a few questions to help you begin analyzing the issues discussed in this case study. The purpose of these questions is to prompt reflection and further consideration: there are no right or wrong answers!
- Technical and practical aspects of managing large amounts of sensitive
information.
• The information that you would add or remove from the current register
• How to address the various concepts of citizenship / membership represented by
the government / Anishnaabe people.
- Personal response: Take stock of your immediate response to this case study: outrage, discomfort, boredom, confusion, frustration, hope, interest? How might your unique personal experiences and perspectives inform this response? How can you leverage this response in a positive way?
- Positive action:
- Physical connections:
- Contradictory viewpoints and outcomes:
- Interruptions and invitations:
- Social and Historical Context:
- Positive practices: What is one concrete action that you could take, or a practice that you could adopt in your personal, academic or professional life to address some of the issues discussed in this case study?
References
[1] Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, “Background on Indian registration,” Government of Canada, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.rcaanc- cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1540405608208/1568898474141#_Demographic_Impacts_of. [Accessed: 31-Jan-2026]. [2] Indigenous Services Canada, “Registration under the Indian Act and applying for a status card, what's the difference?,” Government of Canada, Mar. 21, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1641932747043/1641932770031. [Accessed: Jan. 31, 2026]. [3] S. Lee, “The Ultimate Guide to Database Philosophy,” NumberAnalytics, Jun. 18, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.numberanalytics.com/blog/ultimate-guide-to-database- philosophy. [Accessed: Jan. 31, 2026]. [4] Koognaasewin, “Debandaagziwin: Citizenship/Membership,” https://www.koognaasewin.com/blog/debandaagziwin-citizenshipmembership (accessed Jan. 31, 2026). [5] Univ. of Arizona, Native Nations Institute, “John Borrows: Anishinaabe Principles of Citizenship and Identity.” https://nnigovernance.arizona.edu/john-borrows-anishinaabe- principles-citizenship-and-identity (accessed Jan. 31, 2026)