Bill C-3

3rd Session, 40th Parliament,

59 Elizabeth II, 2010

house of commons of canada

BILL C-3

An Act to promote gender equity in Indian registration by responding to the Court of Appeal for British Columbia decision in McIvor v. Canada (Registrar of Indian and Northern Affairs)

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

SHORT TITLE

1. This Act may be cited as the Gender Equity in Indian Registration Act.

INDIAN ACT

2. (1) The portion of subsection 6(1) of the French version of the Indian Act before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:

(2) Paragraph 6(1)(a) of the Act is replaced by the following:

(a) that person was registered or entitled to be registered immediately prior to April 17, 1985;

(3) Paragraph 6(1)(c) of the Act is replaced by the following:

(c) the name of that person was omitted or deleted from the Indian Register, or from a band list prior to September 4, 1951, under subparagraph 12(1)(a)(iv), paragraph 12(1)(b) or subsection 12(2) or under subparagraph 12(1)(a)(iii) pursuant to an order made under subsection 109(2), as each provision read immediately prior to April 17, 1985, or under any former provision of this Act relating to the same subject-matter as any of those provisions;

(c.1) that person

(i) is a person whose mother’s name was, as a result of the mother’s marriage, omitted or deleted from the Indian Register, or from a band list prior to September 4, 1951, under paragraph 12(1)(b) or under subparagraph 12(1)(a)(iii) pursuant to an order made under subsection 109(2), as each provision read immediately prior to April 17, 1985, or under any former provision of this Act relating to the same subject-matter as any of those provisions,

(ii) is a person whose other parent is not entitled to be registered or, if no longer living, was not at the time of death entitled to be registered or was not an Indian at that time if the death occurred prior to September 4, 1951,

(iii) was born on or after the day on which the marriage referred to in subparagraph (i) occurred and, unless the person’s parents married each other prior to April 17, 1985, was born prior to that date, and

(iv) had or adopted a child, on or after September 4, 1951, with a person who was not entitled to be registered on the day on which the child was born or adopted;

(4) Subsection 6(3) of the Act is amended by striking out “and” at the end of paragraph (a), by adding “and” at the end of paragraph (b) and by adding the following after paragraph (b):

(c) a person described in paragraph (1)(c.1) and who was no longer living on the day on which that paragraph comes into force is deemed to be entitled to be registered under that paragraph.

3. Section 11 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (3):

(3.1) A person is entitled to have the person’s name entered in a Band List maintained in the Department for a band if the person is entitled to be registered under paragraph 6(1)(c.1) and the person’s mother ceased to be a member of that band by reason of the circumstances set out in subparagraph 6(1)(c.1)(i).

REPORT TO PARLIAMENT

3.1 (1) The Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development shall cause to be laid before each House of Parliament, not later than two years after this Act comes into force, a report on the provisions and implementation of this Act.

(2) Such committee of Parliament as may be designated or established for the purposes of this subsection shall, forthwith after the report of the Minister is tabled under subsection (1), review that report and shall, in the course of that review, undertake a review of any provision of this Act.

RELATED PROVISIONS

4. In sections 5 to 8, “band”, “Band List”, “council of a band”, “registered” and “Reg- istrar” have the same meaning as in subsection 2(1) of the Indian Act.

5. For greater certainty, subject to any deletions made by the Registrar under subsection 5(3) of the Indian Act, any person who was, immediately before the day on which this Act comes into force, registered and entitled to be registered under paragraph 6(1)(a) or (c) of the Indian Act continues to be registered.

6. For greater certainty, for the purposes of paragraph 6(1)(f) and subsection 6(2) of the Indian Act, the Registrar must recognize any entitlements to be registered that existed under paragraph 6(1)(a) or (c) of that Act immediately before the day on which this Act comes into force.

7. For greater certainty, subject to any membership rules established by a band, any person who, immediately before the day on which this Act comes into force, was entitled to be registered under paragraph 6(1)(a) or (c) of the Indian Act and had the right to have their name entered in the Band List maintained by that band continues to have that right.

8. For greater certainty, subject to any membership rules established by a band on or after the day on which this Act comes into force, any person who is entitled to be registered under paragraph 6(1)(c.1) of the Indian Act, as enacted by subsection 2(3), and who had, immediately before that day, the right to have their name entered in the Band List maintained by that band continues to have that right.

9. For greater certainty, no person or body has a right to claim or receive any compensation, damages or indemnity from Her Majesty in right of Canada, any employee or agent of Her Majesty, or a council of a band, for anything done or omitted to be done in good faith in the exercise of their powers or the performance of their duties, only because

(a) a person was not registered, or did not have their name entered in a Band List, immediately before the day on which this Act comes into force; and

(b) one of the person’s parents is entitled to be registered under paragraph 6(1)(c.1) of the Indian Act, as enacted by subsection 2(3).

COMING INTO FORCE

10. This Act comes into force, or is deemed to have come into force, on a day, on or after April 5, 2010, to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.