NB Update: Ending the second-generation cut-off | Record number of ‘vulnerable’ migrant workers | Environmental reviews ‘streamlined’ [video]

On this episode of the NB Update, we look at how a Mi’kmaq senator is pushing for reforms that would eliminate the second-generation cut-off from the Indian Act.

It’s a rule that effectively removes Indian status — a legal category linked to certain rights — following two consecutive generations with one non-status parent.

Sen. Paul Prosper says that abolishing the provision is “vital to the survival of First Nations.” Minister of Indigenous Services Mandy Gull-Masty, the first Indigenous person in that role, says the cut-off is a “very discriminatory part of the Indian Act” but that more consultation is required to find a solution.

This episode also features a roundup of news from the NB Media Co-op:

In 2025, a record number of temporary foreign workers in New Brunswick have been deemed “vulnerable,” meaning they hold open work permits available only to migrant workers who are victims of abuse. One migrant justice organizer says that’s due in part to greater awareness among migrant workers about their rights, while violations remain widespread.

Prospectors are snapping up land around the site of the proposed Sisson mine on the Nashwaak watershed, about 60 kilometres northwest of Fredericton. Resource companies have staked claims to thousands of acres following efforts from Ottawa and the Pentagon to speed up development of the controversial Sisson project.

An influential study arguing that glyphosate isn’t carcinogenic has been retracted 25 years after its publication, over concerns that employees from Monsanto may have partially ghostwritten the article and that its listed authors — one of them a former senior official at Health Canada — “may have received financial compensation” from the company.

The provincial and federal governments have announced an agreement on environmental impact assessments with an approach called “one project, one review.” Government officials say the deal will speed up approvals, improve efficiency, and reduce duplication while protecting the environment and allowing for appropriate consultations with Indigenous people. But an organization representing Mi’kmaq communities says it cannot consent to an agreement that “treats First Nations as an afterthought.”

And a student in the Gaza Strip has been accepted into a graduate program at the University of New Brunswick, but Canadian authorities won’t issue him a study permit unless he submits biometrics. That presents a dilemma for Baraa, 23, who says he cannot submit biometrics without leaving the Gaza Strip, and he cannot leave the territory without already holding a travel visa. Advocates say that more than 130 Palestinian students in the Gaza Strip are facing long delays and they’re calling for action from the federal government. 

The NB Update is a collaboration between the NB Media Co-op and CHCO TV.

This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS).