The process of enfranchisement began in 1857 under the Gradual Civilization Act, and continued under the Indian Act of 1876 as an assimilation policy into Canadian society. Proposed amendments to the Indian Act will address lingering discrimination related to the former policy.
Hundreds of First Nations people may be able to reclaim Indian status with new federal legislation that seeks to address some of the longstanding gender-based discrimination and inequities in the Indian Act.
Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu introduced the proposed legislation, Bill C-38, in the House of Commons Wednesday. It deals primarily with enfranchisement — a historical assimilation policy of giving up status under the Indian Act.
"The notion that the Indian Act might be changed … the possibility that somehow Canada could acknowledge that wrong and then agree to right that wrong is a huge, huge achievement," said Kathryn Fournier.
"It's taken 100 years for Canada to say, at least in the case of my family, this was a wrong."
Fournier is one of 16 plaintiffs who filed a constitutional challenge last year in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. The plaintiffs agreed to put their litigation on hold while Ottawa worked to resolve issues with enfranchisement through new legislation.
The process of enfranchisement began in 1857 under the Gradual Civilization Act, and continued under the Indian Act of 1876 as an assimilation policy into Canadian society.
Enfranchisement meant First Nations people lost their treaty rights and Indian status. The process was often involuntary, such as when First Nations people obtained a university degree or when First Nations women married non-First Nations men.
However, from 1876 to 1985, First Nations men could submit an application to be voluntarily enfranchised by showing they were "capable of assuming the duties and responsibilities of citizenship."
It was also a method used by some to avoid their children going to residential school.
Others, like Fournier's grandfather Maurice Sanderson, a member of Pinaymootang First Nation in Manitoba enfranchised for different reasons.
Sanderson gave up his status 100 years ago in order to own property and vote. When Sanderson enfranchised, his wife and children lost their status, too.
While Fournier gained status under previous changes to the Indian Act, she's unable to pass status on to her three children.
That will change if the proposed amendments are enacted. Bill C-38 seeks to ensure First Nations people with family histories of enfranchisement are entitled to registration under the Indian Act and can pass on that entitlement to descendants to the same degree as those without family histories of enfranchisement.
Fournier said she raised her children to value their Anishinaabe culture.
"To be able to say that they can officially and formally claim that connection and officially be recognized as being part of that community. It's a huge thing for them," said Fournier.
"It has less to do with any particular benefits that may accrue. It has mostly to do with their ability to say quite clearly and quite openly that this is part of who I am."
