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The federal government is taking a piece-meal approach to sex-based discrimination in the Indian Act, said the president of the Coalition of the Indigenous Peoples of Saskatchewan(CIPS), John Hanikenne.
Last week, Indian Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett rejected a Senate amendment to Bill S-3. The Bill, as written, would allow long-standing discriminatory status provisions in the Indian Act to continue against women and their descendants, but would adjust some sections of the act enough to satisfy a court ruling.
The Senate though approved an amendment that would remove the sex-based distinction between 6(1)(a) and 6(1)(c) status and would allow First Nations women to pass along their Indian status to their descendants, as have men over the years.
The amendment was put forward by independent Senator Marilou McPhedran, but Bennett said she couldn’t accept it. The amendment would open the door to as many as 2 million people to Indian status, said an official with Indigenous Affairs.
Bennett offered to look at the act again, if Bill S-3 is passed by the July 3 court deadline. Stage II will allow for another round of consultations “and collaborative work with First Nations, Indigenous organizations and individuals on the broader issues relating to Indian registration, band membership and citizenship,” pushing the discrimination further down the road.
“I applaud Senator Marilou McPhedran for proposing this important amendment and the Senate as a whole for passing the amended bill,” said Hanikenne. He opposed Bennett’s response to the amendment.
Tension, frustration and anxiety among victims of discrimination have been rising as the government of Canada tinkers with Indian Act registration provisions, which delays the achievement of equality for First Nations women, the CIPS organization declared in a press statement.
In addition to being a violation of the Charter, the existing status and membership regime imbedded in section 6 of the Indian Act is in direct conflict with Article 2 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that calls for the equality of Indigenous men and women.
“First Nations men and women must be equal when it comes to passing on Indian status,” said Kim Beaudin, former president of CIPS and now vice chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples.
“The amended Bill S-3 is a burst of hope that all sex-based inequity will finally be removed from the Act.”
In an open letter from the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, the organization states: UBCIC cannot accept any legislative amendments to the Indian Act that continue to perpetuate sexual discrimination against descendants of Indigenous women. First Nations must have the ability to maintain and protect the legal/legislative status and existence of its present and future citizens.
In light of Canada’s long history of piecemeal reform and the damage of this ongoing discrimination, Canada must now move to eliminate the sex-based hierarchy between 6(1)(a) and 6(1)(c) in the status registration regime. The UBCIC’s position has been, and remains, that the only effective remedy to the ongoing sex discrimination is to place Indian women and their descendants born prior to April 17, 1985 on the same footing as Indian men and their descendants born prior to April 17, 1985, so that they are all entitled to registration under s.6(1)(a) of the Indian Act.
The letter goes on to say that there is no impediment to Canada immediately eliminating the sex discrimination in the status provisions…. “The time for talk and consultation about whether to continue Indian Act sex discrimination is long past.”
“Consultation is required with First Nations about many practical issues regarding resources and about how to move to a new nation-to-nation relationship. But the sex discrimination maintained by the Government of Canada for more than 100 years must be removed in order that these talks can take place with Nations that have been made whole, and in which women are equal partners and participants.”