Six Nations have introduced a new "Elder Verification Policy" that will allow Six Nations families to determine who the community deems as an elder that can provide cultural support. The policy was approved by Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) during the Aug. 14 Political Liaison meeting.

Arliss Skye, Six Nations Director of Social Services, said the policy was implemented after it was revealed that some individuals were promoting themselves falsely as Indigenous during the 2023 review of the Child and Family Services Act.

"Why this issue is coming forth is because of individuals that are presenting or promoting themselves as indigenous people and then finding out that they're not," she said.

"The province wants to confirm that they are well recognized individuals with the community," she added.

Skye says that instead of providing the province with a list of community elders, families will be able to provide a family matriarch or patriarch to SNEC on a case by case basis to assist with cultural support.

"We don't want to have a list of individuals that we would consider elders because we want to have families that would identify their own matriarch or patriarch as their person that they would go to seek support for culture, or strengthening some of their involvement with culture and traditions."

She said that the identified individuals will help community members with traditional naming ceremonies and guiding families through that process or provide educational knowledge to different organizations and government agencies looking to train their staff on indigenous culture.

SNEC approved the "Elder Verification Policy" during the August 14 Political Liaison meeting and Six Nations Child Welfare Working group will now forward the new policy to the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services for their information. 

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