We know that various United Nations reports have said that sex discrimination in the Indian Act and excluding indigenous women and girls is an underlying root cause of all the violence, discrimination, abuse and neglect of indigenous women and girls. We know that from the national inquiry. If you add that to the indigenous procurement policy, you're just making that fundamentally worse in every single way.
I would argue that this is really about political power, lands and resources, and unjust enrichment. Right now we have a disappearing Indian formula in the Indian Act. The federal government can calculate, and has, when first nations will no longer be in legal existence. That takes away political power, if you're not legally recognized, and you can take lands and resources.
Similarly, look at what's happened; look at what they put in the legislation even when they made incremental changes to bring some of our women back: Oh, by the way, you can't sue us for all of the harms, the suffering and the lost program services in benefits, housing or anything like that.
To me, the longer they delay it, the more of an unjust enrichment they get. They get to save in the long run on how much money they're expending and who has a voice. Who's very powerful right in our nations? Indigenous women. If you don't recognize them, and you keep them separate from their communities, then you're taking away their voices economically, legally, politically and culturally.
I truly believe there is an underlying policy here that is working against indigenous women. It has everything to do with money.