Kuk'chem. Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for hearing us today.
As Grand Chief Phillip has said, I'm from the Cook's Ferry Indian Band, the Nlaka'pamux Nation. Sharon McIvor is from one of the member bands of our nation. So this issue has been near and dear to our hearts.
We have three specific amendments, and we'll provide the clause-by-clause amendments we have put forward. Unfortunately, they were caught in translation today, so we'll get them to you as soon as we can.
First and foremost, as the Grand Chief has said, the bigger issue is the citizenship issue. We have limited our comments to the bill that has been put forward. Because Bill C-3 is only a partial fix, and discrimination continues against the descendants of indigenous women, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs is advocating that Bill C-3 be amended to eliminate continuing areas of discrimination.
Currently, people who are denied status because their grandmother married a non-status person and who were born before September 4, 1951, will not be entitled to regain status. We recommend that the 1951 cut-off date be eliminated. It is not just or equitable to continue the discrimination simply because a person was born before the 1951 cut-off date. The proposed amendment would reduce the discrimination based on date of birth, ending discrimination against those born before September 4, 1951.
Our second amendment deals with those cases in which paternity wasn't stated. Bill C-3 only addresses the situation of those who were denied status because their grandmother lost status due to marriage. Others were born outside of marriage and were denied status because a registrar deemed them to be non-status and to have a non-status father.
The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs recommends that status be returned to the descendants of Indian women who lost status due to marriage--as in Bill C-3 as it currently is--and to those who were born outside of marriage and were denied status because the registrar assumed their father was non-status. This proposed amendment would eliminate the discrimination in Bill C-3 based on the fact that some people were born out of wedlock.
The last amendment we're recommending is to strike clause 9 to allow Indian women and their descendants who lost status due to the discriminatory operation of the Indian Act to pursue, through the courts or other negotiation, restitution or compensation for the losses their families suffered as a result of the historical discrimination imposed on them by this legislation, similar to the process followed for people who went to residential schools.
With that, I thank you for the opportunity. We will take questions on this. Nkwusm.