Meegwetch.
[Witness spoke in Anishinawbemwin and provided the following text:]
Aanii, boozoo. “Keewedanoung” ndiz niikaaz. Makaadekek n'dodem. Anishinabekwe n'daaw. M'nidoominissing doonjibaa.
[Witness provided the following translation:]
Hello, greetings. “Northstar” is my name. Blackbird is my clan. I'm from Manitoulin Island.
[English]
Good morning, everybody. My name is Jeannette Corbiere Lavell. I am the E-niigaanwidood E’Dbendaagzijig, the citizenship commissioner for the Anishinabek Nation. We represent 39 first nations across northern Ontario with a combined population of 70,000 citizens, or one-third of Ontario's first nations population.
E’Dbendaagzijig means “those who belong”. We adopted our E’Dbendaagzijig Naaknigewin based on the one-parent rule. I am mandated to assist our first nations in the exercise of our inherent right to self-determination. Last year we adopted the Declaration on E’Dbendaagzijig, which is the foundation of our jurisdiction and our first nations citizenship laws.
I must be clear: We know who belongs. We know our families, our people. E’Dbendaagzijig Naaknigewin is distinct from Indian status, which is determined by the federal government. These two must not be mixed up.
With respect to Indian status, Canada must end the sex and race discrimination now. You can do this by passing Bill S-2 as amended.
I live on the Wiikwemkoong unceded reserve. In 1970, two weeks after I married a non-status man, I received a letter from Indian Affairs: “Jeannette Corbiere, you are no longer a member of the Wiikwemkoong unceded reserve. Find enclosed a cheque for $35.”
That was it. That was all my rights were worth—$35. Why should I lose my connection to my people and my sense of belonging? This is where I was born. My family and my relatives are here. My ancestors are buried here. If I returned, I could have been charged with trespassing and hauled away by the police. That's the way it was.
I began a lifetime of fighting sex discrimination in the Indian Act. I am the plaintiff in the 1971 case of the Attorney General v. Lavell, which challenged paragraph 12(1)(b) of the Indian Act. I argued that the provision violated the equality clause of the 1960 Canadian Bill of Rights by discriminating on the basis of sex. The judge suggested I should be happy because a white man married me and because I was better off, but I didn't give up. We've seen a few victories over the years. However, I'm still here before you, fighting, because young people now are facing the same stripping of rights that I did in those early days.
In my Anishinabek Nation, we follow a one-parent rule. We know who our people are—E’Dbendaagzijig, those who belong. Eliminating the second generation cut-off, following a one-parent rule and supporting our first nations' inherent jurisdiction to decide who belongs is the way for the Government of Canada to right its wrongs. This is the only way to stop the forced assimilation that I faced when I married and that our young people are facing today.
It's also really sad for me to say that this forced assimilation is still going strong. Because of Canada's laws, some of our 39 first nations in the Anishinabek Nation are 50% subsection 6(2) status Indians. I know what this means for our collective nations. This means the Government of Canada is legally extinguishing our people.
Now we hear that the government—you—wants to keep consulting through the collaborative process. My Anishinabek Nation says to eliminate the second generation cut-off. You don't need to wait for those consultations to make it right. You have consulted us for quite a while now.