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Indian Act Sex Discrimination: Enough Inquiry Already, Just Fix It

2016; University of Toronto Press; Volume: 28; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3138/cjwl.28.2.314

1911-0235

Gwen Brodsky,

Multicultural Socio-Legal Studies

This article links ongoing historical sex discrimination in the Indian Act to the high levels of violence against Indigenous women. The status provisions have been recognized as an underlying cause contributing to the existing vulnerabilities that make Indigenous women more susceptible to violence. Addressing violence against Indigenous women will be impossible unless and until the underlying discrimination is also comprehensively addressed. The author further contends that fixing the Indian Act does not require waiting for an inquiry. Successive federal governments have been well aware of the ongoing sex discrimination under the Act and its implications for Canada's human rights record. The article concludes by calling for the immediate amendment of the status provisions in the Indian Act once and for all.