Status of Women committee  Thank you very much, and thank you to the committee for inviting me to come and speak to you today. My name is Sharon McIvor. I am a Nlaka’pamux woman from the south-central part of British Columbia. I'm an aboriginal woman, an Indian woman. I am a squaw--one of the women who ar

Status of Women committee  I have no resources, and lack of resources means we cannot mount a defence of this excellent decision at the B.C. Court of Appeal. It seems that the 16 years it took us to get to court, because the government knew it was going to be a loser.... And now they've appealed it and th

Status of Women committee  Thank you for the question. It is estimated that approximately 200,000 women and their descendants are in my situation. The fact that the court granted the stay of execution of the order and the fact that if I cannot mount a defence to it means that I and all these others who w

Status of Women committee  My benefit, the benefit for my children, is the recognition of belonging to their community. That's probably the core piece of this legislation for this victory. For years, those of us who have been excluded because of the legislation--not because of the heritage, but because of

Status of Women committee  I just wanted to say that if you read Canada's report to the CEDAW committee, they've always put the court challenges program forward as one of the measures they have taken to help comply with the obligations they've undertaken. I know that Canada does hold up the court challen

Status of Women committee  I am a single working mother. I earn a decent living to provide for my family. I have no disposable income whatsoever. I don't belong to an organization that has the capacity to raise money. I come from a background of poverty. Ms. Landolt, if your organization would like to he

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much for inviting me. I would like to introduce my friend and colleague, Gwen Brodsky, who will be taking part in probably helping me answer some of the questions that I anticipate you will be asking me. First, I want to briefly introduce myself. I am Nlaka’pamux

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I have several examples. What is crafted by the B.C. Court of Appeal is that those women who married out will have the remedy of having their grandchildren added. We have many first nations women who had children with non-Indians but didn't marry and did not lose their status. Th

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I don't see why you can't go back further than 1951. Just get rid of that date. We need to have all people born before April 17, 1985, to be in the section 6(1) category, and no one in the section 6(2) category before 1985.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's before.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  They should be under section 6(1).

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I want to go back as far as the Indian Act goes back. I want that 1951 date gone, and I want everyone who has status prior to April 17, 1985, to have it under section 6(1), as do their male counterparts. All of the descendants of the men up until 1985 had status under section 6(1

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's fortunately not the government's problem. If you want to be registered, you have to get all of your own information and comply with whatever the government wants as proof. Many people out there can't do that. If they can do it and they meet the criteria, they should be able