QUESTION PERIOD — Indigenous Services
Indian Status Card Applications
October 28, 2025
Hello, minister. In the Auditor General’s report released last June, it was revealed that over 80% of applications for registration under the Indian Act exceeded your department’s own 6-month service standard, with the average decision taking 16 months. The report also found a backlog of nearly 12,000 applications, with some applicants waiting more than two years, along with serious gaps in staff training and monitoring.
Minister, why has your government failed to ensure timely and properly managed registration services, despite years of warnings and clear recommendations from the Auditor General?
Thank you for bringing that question forward. It is truly a very important and critical question for me to respond to.
I did receive and thank the Auditor General for her work. It points to a period of a five-year window when I asked, “How does the COVID pandemic factor into this?” The response I received from the Auditor General was that when First Nations come to ensure that they’re doing their registration, there are a number of documents required at the provincial level. During the pandemic, there was a long period of time when we were not working from the office. That means those important, necessary documents were not always available. This did factor into the delay.
It is important to me as somebody who, herself, has to be registered that we respond to the deadlines. The standard offered to me from my department is a goal for them. We can do better because service delivery for me is important, not only because I believe in it but also because many of the people I am serving are my friends, my family and my colleagues. This is something very important to me: to ensure that we work well with the people who we’re serving.
Thank you. As I said, it is a 12,000‑application backlog.
Bill S-2, which was previously asked about, would expand eligibility for status and could significantly increase the number of registration applications that your department would have to process. Given that the system is already struggling with lengthy delays and backlogs, how will your government ensure that Indigenous Services Canada is actually prepared to handle the additional workload and deliver these registrations in a timely and respectful way?
Thank you for your follow-up question.
In fact, we have been extremely proactively prepared, I’ll say, in the work that we’re doing with Bill S-2, and officials in my department have identified the list of 3,500 people, and they have been set aside to ensure their registry will be prompt and, I will say, acted upon with immediacy and urgency.
There is still the question of the 12,000 outstanding registrations. We have been working very closely with our department to close that target. I want to share with the Senate that my vision is to ensure that you can get your registration as quickly as your passport.
