A court challenge to restore membership for thousands with the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation has begun in Supreme Court.

The Friends of Qalipu Advocacy Association is challenging changes made in 2013 to the criteria for status.

The main 2008 agreement anticipated about 20,000 applications.

But when more than 100,000 were received, a new points system was adopted and agreed to by Ottawa and the group that founded the Qalipu band, the Federation of Newfoundland Indians.

That saw the number eligible reduced to just over 18,000, revoking status for thousands, including many longstanding members.

Questions have been raised about the motives of some applicants, particularly when it comes to the benefits of membership.

But Flat Bay’s Margaret Cranford, who lost her membership, says that’s really beside the point.

She acknowledges some people are “greedy” and possibly opened the floodgates for others, noting she was stripped of her status at least partly because she now lives on the east coast of the island. Cranford says regardless of the reason, if it leads to discovery of ancestry, that is what matters.

Three weeks have been reserved for Justice Valerie Marshall to hear the matter in Supreme Court—one of the longest in recent memory.

The Friends of Qalipu are seeking to have the 2013 changes quashed, and revert to the original 2008 agreement.