Federal bill seeks to offer more comprehensive status to Indigenous peoples

The Native Council of P.E.I. (NCPEI) is pleased to hear that the federal government plans to eliminate sex discrimination in the Indian Act.

The proposed Bill S-3 amendment seeks to offer more comprehensive status based on past sex-based inequities, thus eliminating all sex discrimination in the Indian Act.

The bill will also seek to change the act to provide further inclusion of more descendants originating between 1869 and 1951. Before this measure, individuals with a status father born before Sept. 4, 1951, can acquire status and that status can go to descendants, but if a status woman married a nonstatus man and had children before that date they could not pass on status. Estimates show that the amendments may result in more than one million new status individuals, but figures are still not clear. Bill S-3 was the government’s response to the Superior Court of Quebec’s Descheneaux case.

NCPEI sees this development as a positive signal to status and non-status peoples in Canada. It reflects the federal government’s acknowledgement of the issues that have perpetuated the disparities that indigenous people face.

NCPEI says past inequities have often been directly attributed to increasing the murders and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls in Canada.

There is no timeline yet on implementing the changes.

“This measure signals the senate’s conviction to steer the House of Commons in the right direction,’’ said Lisa Cooper, president and chief of NCPEI, “but no end date on these changes have been set. While this move is a positive step in recognizing the needs of all Indigenous peoples in Canada, it shows that the Indian Act has ensured the government can continue to assert who an Indian is and where an Indian belongs.’’