All but 4 of the 1,026 respondents to a recently conducted survey say they have experienced discrimination when presenting their status cards.
Conducted by the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, the survey was part of a report titled “They Sigh or Give You the Look: Discrimination and Status Card Usage”.
Its findings show that discrimination is a near-universal experience for Indigenous people when attempting to use the cards as ID.
80 percent of survey respondents said they had clerks act as if status cards were not acceptable ID, while 86 percent say processing it is treated as a hassle.
A whopping 61 percent have been asked for additional unnecessary information, and 66 percent have had clerks suggest those using their cards receive an unfair advantage.
According to the study, the idea of card holders receiving an unfair advantage is also echoed in comments on related news articles.
Their study also found that media over-coverage of status card frauds have led to additional stereotypes.
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