Final answer:
Women and their descendants were primarily excluded from obtaining or who lost status under Bill C-31 due to the discriminatory policies of the Indian Act prior to its amendment in 1985. The struggle for voting rights also saw exclusions based on ethnicity, with women of colour being disenfranchised until the late 1940s.
Step-by-step explanation:
Individuals who were excluded from obtaining or who lost status under Bill C-31 were primarily women and their descendants. Before this bill, which was enacted in 1985, women who married non-First Nations men lost their Indian status, as did their children. Although Bill C-31 amended the Indian Act in an attempt to restore status to those who had lost it, it also created new categories of status that led to further exclusions. This continued the discrimination, especially against First Nations women and their children.
Additionally, in the context of voting rights in Canada, there are historical instances of exclusions due to ethnicity, such as most women of colour, including all Asian and Black women, not getting the vote until the late 1940s. The Supreme Court of Canada held that the word 'persons' in section 24 of the British North America Act, 1867 did not include female persons, which affected women's eligibility for certain public offices, including the Senate, until the decision was overturned in 1929 by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.