Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I believe individuals who are currently entitled to registration under one provision of subsection 6(1) would maintain their entitlement and would potentially gain an additional entitlement. There might be dual entitlement for many individuals. This is obviously something that we

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I did not participate in the engagement process.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No specific concerns were raised with the Department of Justice.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  What Bill C-3 does in terms of membership is protect existing entitlement. If someone was entitled to be a member of a band before the coming into force of Bill C-3, that person will continue to be entitled after the coming into force of Bill C-3. However, it respects the authori

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act was repealed in June 2008. There is, therefore, an ability to deal with provisions of the Indian Act and decisions made under the Indian Act. This ability obviously is suspended until June 2011 with respect to first nations governm

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There are 14 cases.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is an important question. The British Columbia Court of Appeal acknowledged that, despite the active litigation launched over the past 25 years, Bill C-31 in 1985 was a bona fide attempt to remove discrimination from the Indian Act. The Court of Appea

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for this question. Again, this is a very focused answer to the McIvor decision, given the limited time we had to develop legislation in response to the British Columbia Court of Appeal decision of April 9, 2009. There are other issues that have been raised in litigatio

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. It's an important clarification, Mr. Chair. The decision of the British Columbia Court of Appeal applies in British Columbia only, but the registration system is a national system, and the legislation that corrects that response to the McIvor decision will apply nat

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Bill C-3 would come into force upon the declaration of the Governor in Council, and that can be retroactive to April 5, which is the day before the declaration of equity would become effective.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, yes, Mr. Chairman. I am aware of about 14 active cases currently challenging section 6 of the Indian Act, which states the registration provision. To date, two issues have been mentioned. One was raised by the Wabanaki Nation, which had to do with a difference in trea

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. The second question is that the father of that person has to be a non-Indian. The third condition, which is the one you identified, includes two conditions. The person has to have been born after the mother married the non-Indian. Why? Because if the indi

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There is a fourth condition that I can come back to later on.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Sure. The fourth and last condition is that the individual who is covered by the new entitlement has to have had a child with a non-Indian after September 4, 1951. This was the time of the creation of the Indian registry and the inclusion of a number of complex rules, including t

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for the question. Those who worked on the drafting of this bill acknowledge that this is not easy to read, so I'm happy to have the opportunity to walk you through the conditions. It is difficult to read because, as was said before, we were working with very technic