Tansi and good morning, honourable members.
My name is Delbert Wapass, and I am the elected chief of the Thunderchild First Nation. This means I have the responsibility to speak on behalf of my nation on issues affecting us. Bill S-2 is one of those. It would impact my people, my nation and future generations to come.
The Cree peoples have lived in our territory since time immemorial. As sovereign peoples, we have the jurisdiction, authority and responsibility to govern our lands and peoples according to our own laws and traditions. Thunderchild First Nation entered into treaty in 1878 at Sounding Lake in what is now called Alberta. The very act of negotiating a treaty was a recognition by the Crown of our status as a sovereign nation. We have never surrendered that sovereignty or our right to govern.
Our nation today has more than 3,100 registered members. Like many treaty nations, we continue to live with the devastating impacts of colonial laws and policies designed to get rid of the “Indian problem”. The Indian Act, through its “disappearing Indian formula”, was and is Canada's primary tool. It is obvious, from federal statements in the past, that legislating us to extinction is your way of trying to get out of your treaty, fiduciary and constitutional obligations to the first nations. We will not allow that to happen.
Our families and nations have been divided by historical and ongoing Indian Act rules that determine who is an Indian and that discriminate on the basis of sex, race, ethnic origin, family status, marital status and various intersectional combinations of these prohibited grounds. The Indian Act was created by Canada, not first nations, and it was done in violation of our right to be self-determining and as a subversive way to undermine the treaties. However, the federal government no longer has any excuses for this discrimination. Its own constitution, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and Supreme Court of Canada cases have said that the discrimination must end.
The second generation cut-off and the complex registration categories under subsection 6(1) and subsection 6(2) are products of federal legislation designed to control and, ultimately, reduce the number of first nations people recognized by the Crown. Some have called this legislation an extinction or a genocide. Bill S-2 as originally introduced would not have addressed the ongoing exclusion of our women, children and grandchildren. The Senate heard the voices of first nations and amended the bill to end the second generation cut-off and ensure that there would no longer be an extinction date for every first nation.
As I stated in my letter, we support Bill S-2 as amended to end discrimination in Indian status, which has been found to be a root cause of murdered and missing indigenous women and girls. This is a critical step in the short term. However, in the long term, Canada must get out of the business of deciding who our people are. Only we have the sovereign jurisdiction and authority to do that. Some first nations, like Thunderchild, currently determine their own membership. The majority do not. This is Canada's discrimination. Not only must it address Indian status, but it must compensate our peoples and the first nations that have been impacted. Once Canada fixes its mess, we can transition to a system in which first nations have the exclusive authority to determine our own citizenship rules without the worry of inheriting Canada's liability.
The current consultation process misses the mark again. We have consulted on the issue of Indian status for 40 years and have repeated our concerns about the second generation cut-off and ongoing sex- and race-based discrimination, but to no avail. Each time Canada amends the Indian Act, it knowingly leaves in this discrimination, but it asks us what we think, over and over. It's an endless process. This is not what the duty to consult requires. It requires that you act on the voices of first nations.
The current consultation process misses the mark again. We have consulted on the issue of Indian status for 40 years and have repeated our concerns about the second generation cut-off and ongoing sex- and race-based discrimination to no avail. Each time Canada amends the Indian Act, it knowingly leaves in this discrimination, but it asks us what we think, over and over. It's an endless process. This is not what the duty to consult requires. It requires that you act on the voices of first nations. Canada cannot use consultation as a weapon and ignore our voices. It also cannot maintain the discrimination in Indian status.