National Household Survey (NHS)

Membership in a First Nation or Indian band of person, category

Membership in a First Nation or Indian band refers to whether a person reported membership in a First Nation or Indian band. A band is defined as a body of Indians for whose collective use and benefit lands have been set apart or money is held by the Crown, or who have been declared to be a band for the purpose of the Indian Act. Many Indian bands have elected to call themselves a First Nation and have changed their band name to reflect this. With the 1985 amendment to the Indian Act of Canada (Bill C-31), many Indian bands exercised the right to establish their own membership code, whereby it was not always necessary for a band member to be a Registered Indian according to the Indian Act.

Citation note: The definition of band is based on that provided in "Words First - An Evolving Terminology Relating to Aboriginal Peoples in Canada" Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, October, 2002.

Person refers to an individual and is the unit of analysis for most social statistics programs.

The data for this variable are reported using the following classifications and/or lists:

• Membership in a First Nation or Indian band