A number of people have commented that this is one of the most important sex equality cases of the last couple of decades.
For aboriginal women, it's clear that this is discrimination that's gone on for a long time, for decades and decades and decades. We've never erased the sex discrimination in the Indian Act. We did it partially in 1985, but poorly.
But it also has implications for all women, because partly what's at stake here is the question of whether women are actually able to convey to their children and grandchildren the status, the personhood--in this case the Indian citizenship--that men are seen to be the holders of, and we've recognized them as the holders of. So it's a huge case in its implications for aboriginal women directly and for all women more indirectly.
The fact that we're in the position now of having to go around with a hat to raise money to support Sharon to go forward, when on the other side the government is using our money to oppose it, is shocking. It's amazing to me that we've come to this particular point. I think we should all be embarrassed.