November 30, 2015 Kwey Signatories, Recently there was a court case in Quebec that addressed a particular aspect of the sex discrimination in the Indian Act. The ruling was positive where the judge ruled for broad legislative reform. Regardless of this win, shortly after the Department of Justice filed an appeal. Here are a series of articles: Dated August, 10, 2015 this news article talks about a court case in Quebec heard on August 3rd in Quebec Superior Court brought forward by Stéphane Descheneaux. The short story is, despite the 1985 and 2011 amendments to the Indian Act to remove the sex discrimination, because his indigeneity travelled through his mother line, he and his children continue to be denied status registration. Justice Chantal Masse argued the changes to the Indian Act did not provide a “complete solution” to the problem. In her view, the Indian Act didn’t just affect the women who lost their status, it had generational consequences and she says, "it’s up to the federal government to right this historic wrong." Further, she argued “The government knew there were still problems with the Indian Act but it hasn’t adopted a comprehensive reform of it. We want that to change.” Justice Chantal Masse gave the federal government 18 months to close loopholes in the Indian Act that violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. http://montrealgazette.com/news/national/court-ruling In the September issue of The Lawyers Weekly it is stated that, “Justice Masse underlined that even if her judgment only concerned the two cases before her, ‘it does not exempt Parliament from taking the appropriate measures to identify and settle all the other discriminatory situations that could arise from the issues identified, whether based on sex or other prohibited grounds, in conformity with Parliament’s constitutional obligation to ensure that its laws respect the rights enshrined in the Canadian Charter.’” http://www.dionneschulze.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/2015-09-04_Lawyers-Weekly_Parliament-given-18-months-to-amend-Indian-Act.pdf NationTalk offered their version of the news here at this link: http://nationtalk.ca/story/indian-act-rules-on-status-declared-discriminatory-the-abenaki-win-a-historic-victory In an open letter to Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Wilson-Raybould, Bruce McIvor implores her to drop the appeal that the Department of Justice has taken against the Descheneaux decision. McIvor states, “your mandate includes a review of the federal government’s litigation strategy including ‘early decisions to end appeals or positions that are not consistent’ with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms” as such “you must fulfil your mandate and uphold the Honour of the Crown by immediately dropping the Descheneaux appeal and, as ordered by the Court, amending the Indian Act to fully implement the Descheneaux decision.” http://www.firstpeopleslaw.com/index/articles/208.php My Fundraising Efforts: I have about 15 copies of "The Truth that Wampum Tells: My Debwewin on the Algonquin Land Claims Process" on my shelf. I would like to see my book in the hands of people. Purchase one from the link provided and I will add a bookmark of Creator's first woman as well as sign the inside cover: http://www.lynngehl.com/2-truth-that-wampum-tells.html