The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau Prime Minister of Canada House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6 September 17, 2020 Re

Home , Carolyn Bennett, Justin Trudeau, Marc Miller (politician)

Chair in Indigenous Governance

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau Prime Minister of Canada House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6

September 17, 2020

Re: Throne Speech and Ending Sex Discrimination in the Indian Act

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau:

We are writing to urge the Government of Canada to include in its Throne Speech on September 23, 2020 a statement acknowledging the historic importance of the final elimination of sex discrimination from the Indian Act which took place through amendment on August 15, 2019, and making an explicit and full commitment to ensuring that all the First Nations women and their descendants who are now finally entitled to status on the same footing as their male counterparts will be registered expeditiously so that they can enjoy the status and benefits of status that they have been denied for so long. We request that you declare Indian Act registration an essential service during the pandemic, as First Nations women and their descendants are currently being denied access to uninsured health benefits and COVID‐19 assistance ‐ to which they are entitled ‐ because of unconscionable delays in the registration process.

We ask further that the responsibility for full implementation of Bill S‐3 be added to the mandate letters of the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Indigenous Services Canada and/or the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown‐Indigenous Relations, as well as the responsibility for the full implementation of the remedy for violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights set out in the January 11, 2019 decision of the Human Rights Committee on this issue.

1 We are gravely concerned that the rights of First Nations women and their descendants to the equal protection of the law and the equal enjoyment of their culture continue to be violated by the Government of Canada. This is because, though the law was changed, the Government of Canada is not taking effective and prompt steps to ensure that those who are now entitled can actually get registered quickly and efficiently and enjoy the benefits of status. Nor is the Government of Canada fulfilling its obligations under international human rights law to address the residual discrimination that flows from the decades of sex discrimination, and to implement reparations for those who have experienced the discrimination. Eliminating this discrimination and addressing its effects has been recommended repeatedly by those expert bodies that have inquired into the murders and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls in Canada – the UN CEDAW Committee, the Inter‐American Commission on Human Rights, and, most recently, the National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Women. Actively remedying this long‐standing Indian Act discrimination is a crucial first response to addressing the human rights crisis of murders and disappearances.

We understand that as Prime Minister of Canada you are committed to the removal of systemic race discrimination, and to the full implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We ask for a statement of commitment that the systemic race and sex discrimination against First Nations women, that has been an integral part of the Indian Act for 143 years, will not just be removed on paper, but will be eliminated from the lives of First Nations women through, as a first step, ensuring that, in fact, they can be registered immediately and enjoy the same status and benefits as their male counterparts.

Sincerely,

Sharon McIvor Dawn Lavell Harvard, President, Ontario Native Women’s Association Viviane Michel, President, Quebec Native Women's Association/Femmes Autochtonnes du Québec Mary Hannaburg, Vice President, Quebec Native Women's Association/Femmes Autochtonnes du Québec Chief Judy Wilson, Secretary‐Treasurer, Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs Dr. Lynn Gehl Dr. Pamela Palmater, Chair in Indigenous Governance, Ryerson University Dr. Gwen Brodsky Mary Eberts, O.C. Shelagh Day, C.M., Chair, Human Rights Committee, Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action

CC: The Honourable Marc Miller – Minister of Indigenous Services The Honourable Carolyn Bennett ‐ Minister of Crown‐Indigenous Relations