Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon.
I am the great-great-granddaughter of Michel Callihoo, who signed treaty in 1878 by an adhesion to Treaty No. 6. I'm here today on behalf of over 700 members of the Michel First Nation who were reinstated under Bill C-31.
I would like to present to the committee today the issue of discrimination throughout the Michel history. The whole band was enfranchised in 1958 under section 112 of the Indian Act, which was later repealed because it was deemed to be discriminatory.
Bill C-31 was also discriminatory. I stated that 700-plus members have been reinstated. However, there are probably approximately the same number who were not reinstated because they were enfranchised under the band enfranchisement. Bill C-31 did not address that. They only addressed individual enfranchisement.
My third comment regarding discrimination is the specific claims policy and access to it. In 1998 we had concluded an inquiry from the Indian Claims Commission. That inquiry made a recommendation to Canada that Canada should grant the Michel First Nation special standing to file a specific claim. In 2002, after four years, the Minister of Indian Affairs of the day refused to give us that special standing, and the recommendation was not adopted.
Our sole recommendation here today to this committee is to propose an amendment to the definition of first nation in Bill C-30. In order to bring a claim before the Specific Claims Tribunal, a first nation must meet the first nation definition under section 2 of the Indian Act. This defines first nation to mean a band as defined under the act. This definition needs to be expanded to include the Michel First Nation, which would be a first nation if not for Canada's breach of lawful obligation, because Canada's breach goes directly to the status of the Michel First Nation.
The Indian Claims Commission did note that Canada should not benefit because of a technicality. In our case, Canada is still benefiting from its own wrongful act; it points to its own discrimination as the justification for not granting us status as standing under the policy. Parliament would continue this wrong by enacting Bill C-30 without the requested amendment.
One of the purposes of Bill C-30, and the reason why it was endorsed by the Assembly of First Nations, is that it removes the non-binding status of recommendations under the former Indian Claims Commission. Bill C-30 is a positive step, and we endorse it. However, the benefits of Bill C-30, as it is currently drafted, exclude us because of the catch-22 position we are in. We are not recognized as a band, but we say we should be a band. We can't argue that we should be a band.
The basic principles and values of Canadian society are reflected in the constitutional provisions designed to protect the rights of aboriginal peoples, to abolish discrimination. These basic principles and values need to be applied to our situation. We have the same issues before us as all the other first nations in Canada; however, we have no platform to bring them forward.
We respectfully urge the committee to recommend that Bill C-30 be amended so we may have equal access to the legal processes that Bill C-30 set out.
Thank you to the committee for allowing us to attend today.