The core objective of Bill C-31 was to achieve gender equality in the transference of Indian status by establishing a norm free of sex-based disparities. Non-Indian women who married non-Indian men no longer lost their situation, and Indian women who lost their position through getting married to a non-Indian man were qualified to pursue reinstatement.
While Bill C-31 discussed much of the Indian Act’s gender discrimination against women, it also created some challenges. The federal government squeezed already scarce resources and budgets to service additional people by adding women who recovered status, mostly their children, to group membership lists of First Nations. This has occasionally resulted in animosity and backlash from First Nations people.