Members of the Indian Act Sex Discrimination Working Group are attending the 89th session of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in Geneva, Switzerland this week to stand up for the rights of First Nations women and children.
The Working Group includes the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, Ontario Native Women's Association, the Feminist Alliance for International Action, Quebec Native Women and leading plaintiffs in the court and UN petitions that have challenged Canada's Indian Act sex discrimination.
The UN's CEDAW Committee will review Canada's compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women and will meet with Indigenous people's organisations and women's rights NGOs from across the country. The Working Group members delivered reports on Monday based on decades of research and experience of members.
The Group noted in a statement that Canadian authorities continue to discriminate against First Nations women and children on the basis of sex, race and family status.
"Sex discrimination in the Indian Act has been an effective tool of forced assimilation for 148 years, between 1876 and 1985, by legally defining thousands of First Nations women and their children as non 'Indian' if they 'married out'. By contrast, First Nations men who married out endowed their non-'Indian' wives and children with Indian status," the Working Group said.
"This sexist legislative scheme is at the heart of a culture of racism, misogyny and violence in Canadian society which dehumanizes First Nations women, treats them as second-class citizens and as disposable. It has been found to be a root cause of the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit+ (MMIWG2S+).
"By failing to effectively eliminate the long-standing sex discrimination in the Indian Act and compensate First Nations women and their descendants for decades of harm, Canada is in direct contravention of the recommendations made by the Inter-American Commission (2015), the CEDAW Committee (2016), and the National Inquiry into MMIWG in Canada, as well as its legal obligations under CEDAW, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and its rhetorical commitments to reconciliation objectives."
The Working Group said the urgency of the issue of forced assimilation cannot be understated.
"Expert demographers agree that rules regarding transmission of status introduced by Canada in 1985, will cause the legal extinction of status Indians in only a few generations," they said.
The Working Group reiterated its call on Canada's federal government to end sex discrimination and repeal the rules regarding transmission of status that will result in "legislated extinction" of First Nations, including the second generation cut-off and the two-parent rule which require two status Indian parents in order for status to be transmitted to their child, and replace it with a one-parent rule, which is the standard for transmission of Canadian citizenship.
The Group called on Canada to compensate affected First Nations women and their descendants for the harms they have experienced, to restore membership and entitlements to women and their descendants who lost them because of sex discrimination, and to co-develop an education campaign to educate the public on Canada's history of discrimination against First Nation women.
Sharon McIvor, lead plaintiff in McIvor v Canada - a leading gender equality case in which the BC Supreme Court ruled section 6 of the Indian Act breached equality rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms - said the delegation's journey to Geneva to attend the CEDAW Committee's review of Canada demonstrates the "unwavering determination of First Nations women to hold Canada to account for ongoing sex discrimination and the epidemic of gender-based violence against Indigenous women and girls".
"I am one of many First Nations women who have been fighting for decades for Canada to recognise our rights and the rights of our children," she said.
"We have not yet obtained a full remedy. Canada's piecemeal approach to amending the Indian Act has perpetuated sex discrimination, particularly with the 1985 introduction of the two-parent rule under Bill C-31.
"We have survived too much and fought too hard to accept anything less than full equality and reparations for the harms done. Now we need the world to know that, unless the program of forced assimilation is stopped, First Nations in Canada will disappear."
Chair of Indigenous Governance at Metropolitan University, Dr Pam Palmater, said Canada's "reputation as a champion of international human rights has been sullied by its mistreatment of First Nations women and their descendants".
"For generations, Canada has denied us recognition and belonging in our communities, and enjoyment of our cultures, lands, and our roles in governance," she said.
"By targeting our women and children, and legally defining so many of them as non-Indians, Canada has stripped First Nations of thousands of members, shrinking the pool of Indians who are recognised as having inherent, Aboriginal, treaty, land, economic, social and political rights and entitlements, and to whom the government has a fiduciary duty.
"While Canada has provided restitution to other Indigenous people discriminated against under other federal laws, First Nations women and their descendants remain legally barred from compensation for Indian Act sex discrimination."
Dr Palmater urged Canadian authorities to end the sex, race and family-based discrimination, provide reparations to women, their descendants, and their Nations, to implement a comprehensive plan to restore status to women and their descendants who lost it or have been denied it because of sex discrimination.
Quebec Native Women president Marjolaine Etienne said the discrimination of the Indian Act is a reality that affects First Nations women and their descendants across all provinces and territories of Canada and infringes on many fundamental rights.
"The residual discrimination and its effects cause intergenerational inequalities and compromise the cultural and social structures of communities. Our cultures, languages, and peoples continue to be directly threatened by this historical injustice," she said.
Union of BC Indian Chief secretary treasurer Chief Marilyn Slett noted she has two grandchildren the Canadian state refuses to recognise "as status Indians".
"I feel the injustice of the second-generation cut-off and the two parent rule deeply," she said.
"We in the Heiltsuk Nation know the importance of our kin, our connections, and our culture. We know that it's past time that Canada stops imposing racist and sexist definitions of who belongs to our Nations, and for our women, children and two-spirit+ relatives to feel safe and supported at home in our communities.
"The MMIWG2S+ (missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two spirit individuals) crisis continues to greatly impact our communities and we know that the pain and isolation experienced by survivors and families is often exacerbated due to a lack of recognition of their membership.
"We call on Canada to abolish the second-generation cut-off and two-parent rule, to recognize the right of First Nations to determine our own citizenship laws, and to provide funding and land so that we may bring our people home in a good way, without the fear of scarcity, in the full enjoyment of our rights."
