Indian Act Sex Discrimination
The Government of Canada Must End the Sex Discrimination in the Indian Act Now
Any Tuesday…
Photo by Lynn Gehl. Lynn Gehl’s poster for the Marche Amun, Parliament Hill, 2010
Any Tuesday, at a Cabinet meeting, the Government of Canada can remove the sex discrimination from the Indian Act that has been there for 143 years. They can do it any Tuesday because, in 2017, when the Indian Act was being amended one more time, the Senate of Canada insisted that all sex discrimination should be removed. Because the Senate intervened, Bill S-3 contains provisions that would eliminate the discrimination once and for all. But those provisions have not been brought into force. Cabinet can decide to bring them into force by Order in Council, at any regular meeting…any Tuesday.
Until the outstanding provisions are proclaimed, Bill S-3 maintains the decades old sex-based hierarchy between Indian men and their descendants and Indian women and their descendants. This hierarchy has existed since 1876, and amendments to the Indian Act in 1985, 2010, and 2017 have not removed it. Indian women and their descendants still do not enjoy equality with their male counterparts with regard to entitlement to status or transmission of status to their descendants. This violates the right of First Nations women to equality and to equal enjoyment of culture.
First Nations women and their descendants who have repeatedly challenged this discrimination, Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations and individuals, women’s, human rights, labour and faith groups, have joined together to call on the Government to remove the sex discrimination immediately, before the election. The signers of this letter say 143 years of discrimination against First Nations women and their descendants is enough. Read the letter here.
UN Human Rights Committee Rules Indian Act Still Discriminates Against First Nations Women
Over the last twenty years, many United Nations treaty bodies have urged Canada to remove the sex discrimination. The latest UN intervention came in January 2019, when the United Nations Human Rights Committee ruled on Sharon McIvor’s petition, and found that the sex discrimination in the Indian Act violates Canada’s obligations under international human rights law to ensure equality for women and equal enjoyment of culture. The UN Human Rights Committee directs Canada to remove the sex discrimination fully and finally, and to ensure that First Nations women and their descendants are granted full 6(1)(a) status on the same basis as First Nations men and their descendants.
Viviane Michel and Sharon McIvor, singing at the Marche Amun, Parliament Hill 2010.
The UN Human Rights Committee ruling on Sharon McIvor’s petition is here.
For background information on Indian Act sex discrimination, click here.
Members of the Senate, allies, and the Famous Six. Photo credit: David Chartrand
The Senate of Canada champions sex equality for First Nations Women
On February 28, 2019, the Senate of Canada passed a motion unanimously calling on the Government of Canada to bring into force the outstanding provisions of Bill S-3 in order to eliminate the remaining sex discrimination in the Indian Act.
This motion was introduced by Senator Lillian Dyck, who is a First Nations woman, a member of the Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan, and the first female First Nations Senator in Canada. She is one of the Famous Six and she introduced this motion.
That the Senate, in light of the decision made by the United Nations Human Rights Committee of January 11, 2019, which ruled that ongoing sex-based hierarchies in the registration provisions of the Indian Act violate Canada’s international human rights obligations, urge the federal government to bring into force the remaining provisions of Bill S-3, An Act to amend the Indian Act in response to the Superior Court of Quebec decision in Descheneaux c. Canada (Procureur general), which would remedy the discrimination, no later than June 21, 2019.
Senator Lillian Dyck, and allied Senators Marilou McPhedran and Kim Pate, posed questions to the Government Leader in the Senate regarding Bill S-3 and the UN McIvor decision. Read this excerpt from Senate question period here (It is the section that starts at “Indian Act – Elimination of Sex Based Discrimination”)
Supporters of Immediate Elimination of Sex Discrimination from the Indian Act:
The Senate of Canada
Native Women’s Association of Canada
Quebec Native Women/ Femmes Autochtonnes du Québec
Ontario Native Women’s Association
B.C. Assembly of First Nations
Amnesty International Canada
Amnistie Internationale Canada Francophone
National Council of Women
Canadian Federation of University Women
Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action
Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund
YWCA
Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Association of University Teachers
Public Service Alliance of Canada
Canadian Union of Public Employees
Sharon McIvor
Jeannette Corbiere Lavell, C. M.
Yvonne Bedard
Senator Sandra Lovelace-Nicholas
Dr. Lynn Gehl
Jeremy Matson
Dr. Pamela Palmater
Dr. Cindy Blackstock
Ellen Gabriel
Dr. Dawn Harvard Lavell
United Nations Human Rights Committee
United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against women, its causes and consequences
…And hundreds more organizations and individuals (see letter).
Here are 6 things you can do:
- Even if you have signed the letter, please email or phone Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Justice Minister, David Lametti, Minister for Women and Gender Equality, Maryam Monsef, and Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Carolyn Bennett, asking them to implement the UN Human Rights Committee decision in McIvor and pass an Order in Council bringing the outstanding provisions of Bill S-3 into force. Here is a suggested text:
I am contacting you to call for the immediate removal of all sex discrimination from the Indian Act. I urge you to bring the outstanding sections of Bill S-3 into force before June 21, 2019. Discrimination against First Nations women has no place in Canada.
Email addresses and telephone numbers:
[email protected]; telephone: 613-992-4211
[email protected] and [email protected]
[email protected]; telephone: 613-995-6411
[email protected]; telephone: 613-943-6636
- Cabinet meets every Tuesday. Send your email once a week, marking it in the subject line ANY TUESDAY.
- Join Dr. Lynn Gehl in her campaign “17 Tuesdays for 6(1)a All the Way!” through #17Tuesdays.
- Use Twitter and Facebook to support this campaign. Use the hashtags #17 Tuesdays or #AnyTuesday.
- Please sign on to the Quebec Native Women’s petition here.
- Forward this message to your networks through newsletters, email, and social media.
Bill S-3
Since its inception, the Indian Act has accorded privileged forms of Indian status to male Indians and their descendants. By comparison, Indian women and their descendants have been treated as lesser in worth, and as second-class Indians.
On June 1, 2017, the Senate of Canada unanimously passed an amendment to Bill S-3. This amendment, which has been dubbed the ‘6(1)(a) all the way’ amendment, would, for the first time, entitle Indian women and their descendants to full 6(1)(a) Indian status on the same footing as Indian men and their descendants.
The Government of Canada has rejected this equal status amendment and wants the Senate to pass Bill S-3 without eliminating all the discrimination against First Nations women and their descendants. Learn about the Famous Six and read their message here.
The Famous six: (left to right top row) Senator Lillian Dyck, Senator Sandra Lovelace-Nicholas, Dr. Lynn Gehl; (left to right bottom row) Sharon McIvor, Jeannette Corbiere-Lavell, Yvonne Bedard
Find background information on Indian Act sex discrimination and Bill S-3 here and follow this link to register and watch the webinars hosted by the Canadian Women’s Foundation and FAFIA on the Indian Act.
Please join us in fighting to end discrimination against women in the Indian Act. Here’s what you can do:
- Sign on to this letter addressed to the Prime Minister of Canada asking him to remove the sex discrimination from the Indian Act now To sign on, send us an email at [email protected] with your name, if you are signing as an individual, or the name of your organization, and/or the name of all the individuals at your organization that would like to sign on. Please send your sign on by November 7th.
- Contact your Member of Parliament Go to this website to find your MP’s contact information and follow this link for a sample email to send to your Member of Parliament.
- Contact Senators from your province or territory Go to this website to find Senators’ contact information and follow this link for a sample email to send to Senators from your province or territory.
Here is the letter addressed to the Prime Minister, with all the signatures!
To join our network or if you have any questions, email: bills3fafia-afai.org