Thank you.
[Witness speaks in Cree]
Good morning, my friends and relatives. My name is Janice Makokis. Thank you for welcoming me here and giving me this opportunity to speak to you today.
I was taught to introduce myself in my language to acknowledge who I am, where I come from, and the responsibilities I have as a Cree woman to the Naheo Cree laws and nation I've been born into. This action is a part of acknowledging our Naheo Cree laws, practising self-determination, and exercising our sovereignty when we belong to a nation.
Another part of exercising indigenous sovereignty is acknowledging the lands we are on when we travel to another nation's territory. I'd like to acknowledge the unseated Algonquin lands we are on today and thank them for allowing me to be on their lands to speak to you.
In my Cree language I said I'm a member of the Bear clan, and I'm from the Saddle Lake Cree Nation located in Treaty 6 territory. I am a treaty person, and I'm a descendant of Treaty No. 6, where my ancestors entered into treaty with the crown of Great Britain in 1876.
I'm an Idle No More organizer and have been invited to speak as a person involved in this movement from the beginning. I am also a treaty educator and a sessional instructor of Blue Quills First Nations College. I exercised my treaty right to education and the promises given to my people during treaty. I obtained several degrees: a bachelor's, a master's, and a law degree.
Idle No More was initiated by women and originated as a grassroots movement in response to the current suite of legislation that directly affects the lives of indigenous peoples. Specifically, the suite of legislation attacks and undermines indigenous peoples' treaties, the treaty relationship, indigenous sovereignty, indigenous title, and inherent rights that have existed from time immemorial. Indigenous peoples across Canada have gathered through various peaceful activities, such as community teachings, public rallies, and peaceful roadblocks, to make statements of opposition to this legislation.
When our nations are under threat and our traditional governance structures, indigenous laws, and ways of life are being undermined by outside forces, in this case Canada, the women have a responsibility to take a stand and do something. This is one of the reasons why Idle No More began with women.
In Cree we have a law called, e na tah maw was sow in, which means we are to defend the children and generations. In times of crisis, this law is invoked by the women, and Idle No More is a response to that because a threat against our people's children and all of creation is imminent and very real.
One of the bills that is included within the suite of legislation that Idle No More has a response to is Bill S-2, which I'm here to speak briefly about. I'm not going to go into detail about the technicalities. My friends here have spoken to that or will speak to that.
I want to focus my comments on how this bill is in violation of our treaties and the treaty relationship. This bill undermines indigenous laws and the inherent rights we have. Finally, this bill further oppresses the roles of indigenous women within our nations.
When my ancestors entered into treaty, we were sovereign nations, and the treaty process acknowledged that. We had established governments to govern ourselves. As a treaty person, I find it arrogant that Canada thinks it can draft a piece of legislation that dictates the division of marital property on reserve lands I live on. Nowhere in the treaties did we ever say we would give up our ability to govern ourselves and practise our own laws. To have provincial laws imposed on our—