Status of Women committee  I'm not sure if you're addressing the question to Nakuset.

Status of Women committee  I think one of the weaknesses in things like the Aboriginal Healing Foundation is that it has a time limit; it has an expiry date. What we need in the communities and for the urban aboriginal people are programs that are recurring. We also need to get the provinces and territories involved, because they don't contribute anything at all.

Status of Women committee  My name is Ellen Gabriel, and I have been the president of the Quebec Native Women's Association since 2004. I am from the community of Kanesatake, a Mohawk community that experienced first-hand violence from the Canadian government during the Oka crisis. I am an artist and have been an activist for the last 20 years.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. I wanted to add that for membership, you have to be a status Indian. That doesn't necessarily mean that if you have status, you have membership. That's been the problem for a lot of indigenous women who regained their status in 1985 but who are not allowed to live in their communities, to be buried in their communities, or to own land that their parents give to them.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll do my best. Thank you for asking the question. I think it's an important question. If there were no so-called economic benefits--and I use that term loosely because there are no benefits, really--to this, I don't think we'd be discussing this today. The Canadian Constitution recognizes the inherent rights of indigenous peoples.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think what has happened with defining status is that Canada decided who is going to be a beneficiary of treaties. Canada is not including the fact that treaties are made between nations, and that as nations we have a right to decide who our citizens will be. We have other recommendations that include: a two-day constitutional conference to be conducted with aboriginal peoples and their representatives to address the federal, provincial, and territorial understandings and agreements as to the respective jurisdictional implications and obligations; that Bill C-3 eradicate all forms of discrimination; remove the categorization in Bill C-3; that the Government of Canada recognize the historical and institutional nature...and by this we mean that we never gave up our sovereignty; we never gave up our rights.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. Greetings, Chair and all members of the House of Commons standing committee. Quebec Native Women appreciates this opportunity to address you all, to present our perspective on the historical discrimination faced by aboriginal women and their descendants under the Indian Act, an injustice that was not corrected with the passing of Bill C-31 in 1985.

Status of Women committee  The movement in most aboriginal communities is nation-building. Nation-building cannot be conducted without good governance. Good governance cannot happen until there is gender equity in the decision-making processes. The high rates of violence in our communities prevent people from investing in their communities, so many people resort to what are considered illegal activities.

Status of Women committee  There are cases of women who do have PhDs, masters' degrees, who cannot find work, or who have to resort to work that's not even in the field they've studied, because of racism and sexual discrimination. They can't find work in their communities because chiefs feel threatened by their education.

Status of Women committee  It applies to both, but from a different kind of perspective, a different attitude.

Status of Women committee  Sure. We talk about colonization and its impact, and one of the things that is very important to groups like Quebec Native Women and other organizations is the reinforcement of identity, the reinforcement of culture and language, as you were talking about. For us to be a proud people once again, we need to have that back in our schools.

Status of Women committee  The role is to pass on the language, to carry on the culture, to teach those values. My society is a matrilineal society, so we were title holders to the land and protectors of the land, because we're like Mother Earth; we nourish. Those are the kinds of things we have lost because of colonization.

Status of Women committee  The royal commission has stated very clearly that services need to be reflective or accommodating to the cultural realities and the values that aboriginal people face; otherwise it's been proven that it does not meet the needs of aboriginal women or aboriginal people in general.

Status of Women committee  Well, a lot of women speak their aboriginal language, and in Quebec it's a little bit problematic because we have to learn French or English. Sometimes the services are not offered in English; sometimes they're not offered for the aboriginal people, especially from isolated communities.

Status of Women committee  Good governance is a very hard issue to tackle overnight. We've made a lot of gains with many women's groups. In the region we work well with some of the provincial departments, so it's easier to make those kinds of gains in people who are open. With good governance we have to deal with our own people who have become colonized in their way of thinking and have a big resistance to aboriginal women becoming chiefs or being part of the decision-making process.