[Witness speaks in her native language]
Greetings of peace to all of you this morning.
I introduced myself in my language. I'm Mohawk, from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Haudenosaunee Confederacy. I'm of the Bear Clan, and my real name is Gowehgyuseh, which means “She's Visiting”.
I actually do that in every presentation. I begin like that because it acknowledges who I am—my identity and where I come from—and it also acknowledges where we are in this physical world.
Thank you for the opportunity for us to present on this issue of the repeal of section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. As we know, this was supposed to be a temporary measure. The original intent of this section was to avoid modifying the Indian Act without prior consultation. However, here we are addressing this issue thirty years later, along with how this Canadian Human Rights Act and this section have actually disallowed the most vulnerable from being able to bring any claim of human rights violations forward when they involve any provisions of the Indian Act.
We know the objective of the Canadian Human Rights Act is to ensure that all Canadians live free from discrimination. However, it has excluded one of the most vulnerable groups in Canada. I'd like to thank Ellen for providing us with the history of discrimination against our people. First nations people, and aboriginal and first nations women more particularly, have taken the brunt of this.
The main point that I want to make here with respect to the repeal of section 67 is that there needs to be a strong and meaningful implementation plan. It has to be a key factor to advancing human rights protections for first nations communities, especially women. We believe this will take at least 36 months, so we have a proposed plan that we've presented to government, and we've done that over the last couple of years.
We have provided the plan to all levels of government, including INAC, to Status of Women Canada, and to the Department of Justice. It is something we brought forward a long time ago.