2. Women's Perspectives - Christian Aboriginal Infrastructure ...

houses, the people have no more room….There is a terrible lack of space so the issue of
re-registration is strongly linked to the issue of land. [translation]
Michèle Rouleau
Quebec Native Women's Association
Montreal, Quebec, 27 May 1993
The testimony of many First Nations women before the Commission points to their
determination to fight against discrimination and policies of exclusion:
In short, an epic struggle which has left its mark has contributed to our understanding of
the obstacles, in particular the strength of the prejudices and ravages caused by the Indian
Act, but which has above all helped to strengthen the determination of the Aboriginal
women to fight discrimination wherever it is found, beginning with the discrimination
that operates at the grassroots in the communities. [translation]
Philo Desterres
Quebec Native Women's Association
Montreal, Quebec, 27 May 1993
In the next few pages we examine the major areas that concern Indian women in the
current version of the Indian Act. In some cases, women are not the only ones affected.
However, because the majority of people restored to Indian status under the 1985
amendments were women, they feel the impact more profoundly and encounter these
obstacles more often than do Aboriginal men.
Indian status under section 6
Though I regained my status under Bill C-31, my children were denied status. The
children of my male cousin, who traces his descent from our common grandmother
through the male line, have full status. I am challenging this inequality in another court
case, pending in British Columbia. 57
Sharon McIvor
Native Women's Association of Canada
Toronto, Ontario, 26 June 1992
First Nations women told the Commission that Bill C-31 has created a situation where,
over time, their descendants may be stripped of their Indian status and rights in some
circumstances in which Indian men and their descendants would be unaffected. The
discrepancy arises out of the categories used to designate Indian status under Bill C-31.
The bill created two main categories of status Indians. Under subsection 6(1), legal status
is assigned to all those who had status before 17 April 1985, all persons who are
members of any new bands created since 17 April 1985 (none have been created), and all
individuals who lost status through the discriminatory sections of the Indian Act. More
specifically, these classes of persons are as follows:
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