Thank you.
Good morning. Thank you for the invitation to speak.
[Witness spoke in Southern Tutchone and provided the following text:]
Danche eyinje Mathieya. luan Mün a keyi kwaché.
[Witness provided the following translation:]
Hi, my name is Math’ieya; I come from Kluane Lake area.
[English]
I'm zooming in from the traditional territory of Kwanlin Dün and Ta'an Kwäch'än Council in Whitehorse, Yukon.
My name is Math’ieya Alatini. I serve as the grand chief of the Council of Yukon First Nations and as the AFN Yukon regional chief. I'm a citizen and former chief of Kluane First Nation, a self-governing nation and modern treaty holder in southwest Yukon.
I'm speaking today as a representative of Yukon first nations—that is, 11 modern treaty holders and three nations still under the Indian Act. All of those nations carry both the promise and the burden of Canada's laws.
I want to begin by thanking the senators for truly listening to first nations' testimony and understanding that testimony, as well as for having the wisdom and, as my mom says, the gumption to amend Bill S-2 to end the second generation cut-off. I want to state clearly that we support the swift passage of Bill S-2 exactly as amended by the Senate.
I speak to you today as a subsection 6(2) status Indian whose family has survived several generations of Indian Act discrimination. My 97-year-old grandmother lost her status after having children with a non-status first nations man, or an enfranchised first nations man. My mother was enfranchised not because she was any less Dene or Kluane but because of an arbitrary Indian Act clause. The Indian Act turned a family matter into a tool of assimilation. My mother was later reinstated under Bill C-31 as a 6(1), and I am now a 6(2). My children's other parent does not have status, so my line ends with me.
This is not reconciliation; this is legislated extinction. The system divides our families into haves and have-nots, barring kids from programs and services and turning identity into paperwork. In the Yukon, we see this every day in health, education and sport when non-status first nations kids are excluded from activities with their status cousins. They're turned away from tournaments that build connection and pride. In civic life, non-status family members cannot vote or lead in some of their home nations. This erodes identity and community belonging. In public health and safety, in the time of opioid poisonings and violence, anything that disconnects our youth from people within our communities deepens their risk.
“Reconciliation” is a verb, and it requires action once the truth is known. The truth is that the second generation cut-off is a discriminatory extinction policy. This has been known since 1982, before it was even implemented in 1985. If this government truly cares about reconciliation and not merely litigation management, then it must address all the known discriminatory laws now, not later. Later is not neutral. Every day you wait, more children are cut off.
Bill S-2 must move through the committee urgently to make reconciliation real for the kids impacted by this before the House rises for the summer. Don't make these kids wait another 40 years. Now is the time for action, not weaponizing consultation and conflating Indian status with band membership or citizenship to confuse people, and it's certainly not time to conveniently misinterpret the UN declaration to delay justice.
I want to make clear how much support from first nations there is for this change. In December, I witnessed how chiefs from across Canada worked together to draft a strong, collaborative resolution in support of the passing of Bill S-2, as amended, to end the second generation cut-off without delay and to support a federal framework for implementation after it passes.