Meegwetch.
[Witness spoke in Anishinaabemowin and provided the following translation:]
Hello. My name is Marsha Smoke, Anishinaabe-Kwe and Bear Clan from the Alderville First Nation.
[English]
Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, I want to begin by acknowledging my ancestors, who are here with me today. I also want to reflect upon the long history of colonial policies that sought to dispossess and assimilate first nations from our lands, our resources, our cultures and our identities. In fact, for 186 consecutive years and 361 days, your lineage of predecessors has been legislating our people, our lands and our resources under the guise of protecting us, from the earliest days of Upper Canada, in through Confederation and still to this day.
In January, Prime Minister Carney made a very significant speech in Davos, and very much described our relationship with settler hegemony with this country. We are still living with the impacts of those colonial policies—the structural disposition, cultural assimilation, erasure and incorporation. That is why I'm here before you today.
From the earliest days of colonial Canada, a shift from the royal proclamation, the Treaty of Niagara and the military alliance during the 18th and 19th centuries occurred. Active assimilation and state control over lands, resources and identity started. These hegemonic actions laid the foundation of the Indian Act in 1876, a piece of legislation legitimizing hegemony. The Indian Act itself was designed to control and assimilate our nations. Enfranchisement laws stripped our people of status and disconnected families from their lands and their nations.
These are historical facts. The legacy of these policies remains at the forefront today, manifested through systemic discrimination, broken treaties, broken promises, broken families and ongoing marginalization. Those discriminatory impacts continue to remain embedded within the Indian Act itself. That is why Bill S-2 matters.
The Anishinabek Nation supports the immediate passage of Bill S-2, including the Senate amendments and the one-parent rule to eliminate the second-generation cut-off. The second-generation cut-off continues to discriminate against first nation families by limiting the ability to pass on legal status across generations. Over time, it removed our people from our nations through federal law.
Some have described this as legislative extinction. We are the only people in this country subjected to legislation designed to exterminate our legal status over generations. The federal government has acknowledged this discrimination, but acknowledgement without action is not justice. Consultation and implementation discussions are important, but they cannot be used to delay equality or postpone the correction of known discrimination.
In short, there ought to be no weaponization of the duty to consult. Instead, perhaps governments should look within and ask themselves this: How do we atone for these injustices after almost two centuries? How do we ensure that first nations have an appropriate amount of land and resources to welcome their citizens back and to teach them about their language, culture and traditions?
Canada must stop treating our nations as a financial burden or exercise, because that is what this delay is really about—the cost of doing the right thing. There is a clear distinction that must be recognized. Canada is responsible for fixing discriminatory federal legislation. First nations are responsible for determining how implementation occurs within their own nations. We can work on implementation together, but equality cannot wait.
The Anishinabek Nation is already doing this work through E'Dbendaagzijig, our citizenship laws. Our chiefs and communities are advancing citizenship discussions grounded in our own laws, teachings and principles of belonging. We are not absent from this process. We are at the table. We are helping shape the path forward.
We have heard exaggerated projections suggesting hundreds of thousands of people could immediately become entitled to registration. Historical experience does not support those claims.
We must recognize that enfranchisement was not only about identity. It also resulted in the loss of first nations lands. Restoring rights must therefore include discussions around land, housing, infrastructure and additions to reserve reforms so that our nations can grow and support future generations.
The Senate amendments provide a clear and practical solution. The work has been done. The courts have spoken. First nations have consistently pushed for these changes. From an Anishinabek Nation perspective, we are guided by a simple teaching: We do not leave anyone behind.
Parliament is not being asked to develop a solution. The solution is already before you with the Senate amendments.
