Social Policy in Ontario

Dyck, from Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan, is the very first, First Nations woman appointed to the Senate. She will use her voice to urge Senators to pass a motion that ensures Canada complies with a recent United Nations Human Rights Committee ruling and bring into force equality provisions found in Bill S-3 before June 21, 2019 — National Aboriginal Day.

“Indigenous women’s rights have been invisible,” Dyck said.

But they won’t be any longer if she and a coalition of senators, including Marilou McPhedran and Kim Pate, lawyers and allies finally succeed in righting a devastating wrong that has kept First Nations women unequal to their male counterparts for the last 150 years.

Essentially, First Nations women have been punished for marrying non-status men by having their status taken away from them and as a result, from their children. Even though many court challenges and decisions have occurred to right this wrong, the practice continues.

The action is not only sexist, it also reduces the number of status Indians in Canada — itself an act of genocide. This, in a country that prides itself on its international human rights record and in a country where the prime minister calls himself a feminist.

Women without status are pushed off reserve, out of their communities, away from their language and culture.

On Jan. 11, 2019, the United Nations Human Rights Committee warned Canada — a supporter of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People — that it had 180 days to stop this discriminatory practice and come up with a solution. It did so in large part to the hard work of Sharon McIvor, who has fought Ottawa over this for nearly 30 years. The UN rights committee accused Canada of knowingly denying First Nations women the ability to pass on their culture, heritage and their legal identity as “status Indians” to their children.

McIvor, a member of the Lower Nicola band in B.C., married a non-First Nations man in February 1970. After the law was amended in 1985, she, and others in her situation, regained her status but she was unable to pass it on to her grandchildren, unlike her brother. McIvor’s brother was able to marry non-Indigenous women, keep his status and pass along status to his children and grandchildren.

McIvor hopes the UN committee’s reprimand shames Canada into finally doing what is right.

“It is more than a warning,” McIvor told me. “They don’t see us as an important piece of Canadian society.”

Why has Canada continued to allow this?

First, some history.

Since Canada’s inception, the country has adopted a number of policies aimed at erasing or assimilating the Indigenous population out of existence.

The Indian Act was created in 1876 and this act grew from an even older piece of sexist legislation — the 1869 Act for the Gradual Enfranchisement of Indians. Both acts were designed to control and limit the Indian population across Canada in order to make way for the settlers coming from Europe.

From 1876 to 1985, Indian women had only a limited ability to pass their status to their kids. There was a one-parent rule for transmitting status and that parent had to be a man. Women were excluded. While Indian women who married non-First Nations men lost their status, if an Indian man married a white woman, he got to keep his status and status was even given to his white wife.

Fast forward to October 2016.

In an effort to correct its discriminatory practices, the government introduced Bill S-3 in the Senate. However, the bill didn’t go far enough so the Senate amended it. Introduced by Sen. McPhedran, the change dubbed “6(1)(a) all the way,” would give all First Nations women and their descendants born prior to April 17, 1985, the exact same Indian status designation as status men and their children.

The Senate passed this vital legal change but it was challenged by the government and the bill sent back to the Senate.

The feds fear the “all the way” amendment could mean an extra 80,000 to 2 million people will claim to be status Indians.

A new effort to amend the bill was brought forward in the Senate and while it appeared to restore the “all the way” change it was watered down so that there was not explicit implementation date.

On Dec. 4, 2017, Parliament passed this latest version of Bill S-3.

The trickle-down effect of allowing this discrimination to continue is devastating.

It’s been an assault that has been perpetuated since 1869, Dyck said.

As McIvor said, they are trying to legislate First Nations women out of existence.

But the world is watching.

Tanya Talaga is a Toronto-based columnist covering Indigenous issues.

https://www.thestar.com/politics/political-opinion/2019/02/26/when-will-canada-treat-first-nations-women-and-men-as-equals.html