Bill S-3 Amendments to the Indian Act and the Never-Ending Battle for Equality for Indigenous Women

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs (INAN) is currently studying Bill S-3 An Act to Amend the Indian Act (elimination of sex-based inequities). As its title suggests, this bill should eliminate the remaining gender discrimination contained within the Indian Act’s registration and membership provisions – but it does not. The Indian Act’s…

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UPDATED – Bill C-3 – Gender Equity in Indian Registration Act

Sharon McIvor went to court to challenge the gender discrimination in section 6 of the Indian Act, 1985. Registration under the Indian Act provides greater entitlements to Indian men who married out (married a non-Indian) and their descendants as compared with Indian women who married out. McIvor won both at trial and on appeal and…

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Amendments to the Indian Act's Registration (Status) Provisions

The federal government appears to be pursuing a course of amendments to the Indian Act’s registration (status) provisions that will not address all of the gender discrimination raised by Sharon McIvor in her court case (McIvor v. Canada). It would seem that the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC, the honourable Chuck Strahl,…

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