Senators threaten to block ‘rushed’ bill
Upper Chamber shows its willing to use its power
OTTAWA • A Senate committee is objecting to government legislation they say doesn’t go far enough in removing gender-based discrimination from Canada’s Indian Act — yet another move signalling that a more-independent Senate is willing to use its power.
The government is requesting an extension on a court deadline — just like the Senate asked them to Tuesday — but it still wants to pass the bill as it stands.
The government drafted Bill S-3 and introduced it in the Senate as part of its response to a Quebec Superior Court ruling that found registration rules in the Indian Act violate Charter rights.
But in a Dec. 13 letter, senators on the aboriginal peoples committee say they’ve heard evidence discrimination will continue despite the measures included in the bill — and they unanimously want Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett to request an extension from the court so she can revamp or replace it. The committee’s letter states the senators are “considering whether to recommend that this bill not be proceeded with further in the Senate.”
“We thank the Senate Committee for their work and understand they believe more time is required to study the bill,” Bennett said in a written statement to the National Post. She said her department has reached out to plaintiffs in the court case and “has begun the work to apply for an extension to the court’s deadline.”
Still, she wants S-3 to pass “as quickly as possible” since it will bring immedi- ate change for about 35,000 people previously discriminated against. Bennett added she remains committed to a second phase of reform, a formal consultation early next year, on other issues with the registration system.
A statement from Sen. Lillian Dyck, who chairs the Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples, said, “We have been rushed to do this bill. That always puts us on the spot because we are supposed to be the ‘ Chamber of Sober Second Thought.’ ”
The deputy chair, Conservative Sen. Dennis Patterson, who called the bill “deeply flawed,” had something similar to say. “We decided to hold the government to account and it is going to result in them seeking an extension, something they have said all along they would not consider.”
It’s not even the first time this week that senators have spoken out against government bills they disagree with — and feisty remarks from senators of all stripes signal that, since more independents have joined their ranks, the role of the upper chamber may be shifting away from the simple rubberstamping of legislation.
Bill S-3 is the third attempt to deal with genderbased discrimination in the Indian Act, but the first tied to a court deadline.
The registration of status Indians is unconstitutional because it discriminates against siblings and cousins in the maternal line, according to plaintiffs in a court case that began in 2011, Descheneaux v. Canada.
In August 2015, the court decided to strike down sections of the Indian Act governing the rules around registration, and after taking office, the Liberal government cancelled an appeal. The government is supposed to come up with changes to the law before February.