WENDAKE, QC, Aug. 7, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - By a decision rendered on August 3rd by Justice Chantal Masse, the Superior Court of Quebec gives 18 months to the federal government to correct the discriminatory provisions of the Indian Act. These provisions concern the right to registration in the Indian registry, they treat women and men inequitably, failing to comply with the right to equality guaranteed by section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The communities of the Abenaki Nation, Odanak and Wôlinak, went to court for two distinct cases experienced by their members and the Superior Court of Quebec has found them to be discriminatory on August 3rd. Susan Yantha is a member of the community of Odanak and a registered Indian under the "C-31" rules adopted simultaneously when section 15 of the Charter came into force in 1985, but the father of her children is not a registered Indian. Stéphane Descheneaux is a member of the community of Odanak and a registered Indian under the rules adopted in 2010 following the McIvor decision but his wife is not registered.
"The federal government has no choice: it must commit to settle permanently, with First Nations and to their satisfaction, the discriminatory provisions still cluttering the Indian Act regarding access to Indian status. The amendments of 1985 and 2010 merely initiated work. We must now bring it to a conclusion.
This is an issue that I intend to challenge with the leaders of the main political parties during the election campaign which just began", said AFNQL Chief Ghislain Picard.
About the AFNQL
The Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador is the political organization regrouping 43 Chiefs of the First Nations in Quebec and Labrador. www.apnql-afnql.com.
SOURCE Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador
Mélanie Vincent : [email protected], Cell. : 418 580-4442
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