Bill C-3, An Act to promote gender equity in Indian registration, received royal assent on Dec. 15.
On Nov. 26, Sharon McIvor, the First Nations woman whose constitutional challenge to the Indian Act is the inspiration for Bill C-3, filed a complaint against Canada with the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
OTTAWA, Nov. 23 /CNW/ -- Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo and Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) President Jeanette Corbiere Lavell today stated their continued support for the Sisters in Spirit campaign and the need for a national action plan to end violence against Indigenous women in Canada.
"The AFN continues to advocate strongly for action that will ensure the safety of Aboriginal women across Canada and support for the families of missing and murdered Aboriginal women," said AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo.
The Conservative government opposes the use of the name Sisters in Spirit and any work on a groundbreaking database on murdered and missing Aboriginal women cases, and this is impacting any future funding the Native Women's Association of Canada expects to receive for new projects on the issue.
And the government has been slowly "smothering" the Sisters in Spirit project which is responsible for bringing to national attention the hundreds of "shocking" cases of murdered and missing Aboriginal women, say sources familiar with the file.
Events of recent weeks have repeatedly reminded me of some long-standing questions I've had surrounding the obligations of Aboriginal communities to their members, in particular, to their female members.
These reminders have come as a series of three news stories, published separately but seemingly tied together by one underlying theme, one I am loathe to contemplate: that the systemic disregard for the lives and lot of Aboriginal women may now exist not only within the larger Canadian society, but across far too many Aboriginal communities themselves.
After 600 Aboriginal women and girls go missing or are found murdered in Canada, the federal government decides to throw-a-bone and give $10 million dollars. In March, the Canadian Minister of Justice budgeted $10 million over two years to address the issue of murdered and missing women in Canada, however, they have yet to figure out how to use the money.
VANCOUVER, BC, PRESS RELEASE--(Marketwire - June 1, 2010)
We, the undersigned Indigenous organizations and individuals, have considered Bill C-3 (Gender Equity in Indian Registration Act) which was introduced by the minister in response to the direction given by the B.C. Court of Appeal in the McIvor v. Canada (Indian Registrar) case to eliminate discrimination in Indian Act against descendants of Indian women who lost status due to marriage.