Over 700 Members of Quebec's Essipit Innu First Nation Lose Indian Status After Federal Review
Federal bureaucrats from Indigenous Services Canada testified before a Senate committee regarding the November 2025 decision to revoke Indian status from over 700 members of the Innu First Nation of Essipit in Quebec. The revocation followed a review questioning historical genealogical evidence used to grant status to descendants of two 18th-century Innu women after 2019 amendments to the Indian Act. Affected individuals and their lawyers are challenging the decision in Federal Court, arguing the required burden of proof is impossible to meet.
More than 700 members of the Innu First Nation of Essipit in Quebec have lost their Indian status following a final decision issued by the federal Office of the Indian Registrar on November 5, 2025. The revocation took effect immediately.
The affected individuals are descendants of Christine Kichera and Adelaïde Matshiragan, two Innu women who lived in the 1700s. Their descendants were initially granted status in 2023, following 2019 amendments to the Indian Act designed to address gender-based discrimination against Indigenous women who married non-Indigenous men.
Federal bureaucrats from Indigenous Services Canada recently testified before a Senate committee regarding the decision. Indian Registrar Claire Thie told the committee that she had no choice but to take "corrective actions" because additional primary evidence could not be found to support the registrations under the Indian Act. Bureaucrats stated that the initial 2023 approval was an error requiring correction.
The review process began after an applicant contacted the Office of the Indian Registrar, which led to questions about the validity of the "Catalogue général de toute la nation montagnaise," a late 18th-century missionary record that had previously been accepted as evidence.
Lawyers Audrey Mayrand and Ryan Beaton argued that proving eligibility is nearly impossible for the affected families. They noted that the reserve was created after the ancestors died, meaning their names do not appear on official government lists. Community members and lawyers view the revocation as a devastating reversal of recognized rights without clear justification for changing the registrar's position.
The Essipit Innu band council has stated it does not intend to evict those affected by the decision. The council has given them three years to regularize their status.
Legal challenges to the revocation are currently ongoing in Federal Court.