Recommendations to end Indigenous women’s displacement from land

Recommendation 38: Remove discrimination from the Indian Act by making women and men equal in the ability to pass on status, repair situations where discrimination against women has disadvantaged those claiming status through the mother’s line, and remove the two-parent rule for transmitting status and the 6(2) cutoff that withholds status from the children of many women who are unable or unwilling to provide the father’s name.

Recommendations to end Indigenous women’s displacement from land

Recommendation 39: Compensation for the disenfranchisement and lack of protections for women and their descendants as a result of the discriminatory Indian Act and matrimonial real property laws.

Recommendations to end Indigenous women’s displacement from land

On reserve

Recommendation 40: The federal government must guarantee:

1. Access to clean drinking water; food security based on a traditional diet; critical infrastructure including roads and sanitation systems; and essential health, education, child care, housing, transport, recreational, cultural, and emergency services on every reserve.
2. Safe, affordable, and livable housing for every woman on her reserve that is independent of her matrimonial status.
3. Affordable child care and licensed day care options on every reserve.
4. Complete complement of maternal and infant/child health services on reserve to enable women to remain closer to home to give birth.
5. Free public transportation between each town and city located along the entire length of Highway 16 and all other highways, with a number of safe homes and emergency phone booths along the length of all the highways.
6. Increase funding on all reserves for programs and services that strengthen traditional and cultural knowledge grounded in Indigenous laws, values, and practices.
7. Range of anti-violence services including preventive programs, crisis intervention, victim services, advocacy support, restorative justice circles, shelters, transitional housing, and second-stage housing on every reserve.
8. Cultural sensitivity training for all first responders such as police, healthcare professionals, and social workers who assist survivors of violence on reserve.

Recommendations to end Indigenous women’s displacement from land

On reserve

Recommendation 41: Implementation of overarching substantive federal legislation to protect the rights of women and children living on reserve in the interim until First Nations communities can develop their own laws to replace matrimonial real property laws. This legislation should include opt-out clauses.

Recommendations to end Indigenous women’s displacement from land

On reserve

Recommendation 42: Implementation of and full funding for federal Indigenous Child Welfare legislation that is attentive to specific First Nations, Metis, and Inuit needs. Ensure that Indigenous nations resume sole jurisdiction—and not simply service delivery—over child welfare for child-members of the nation who are on reserve and off reserve.

Recommendations to end Indigenous women’s displacement from land

On reserve

Recommendation 43: End the apprehension of Indigenous children due to poverty or Eurocentric ideas of neglect that stem from a legacy of colonization.

Recommendations to end Indigenous women’s displacement from land

On reserve

Recommendation 44: All levels of government should fully implement Jordan’s Principle.

Recommendations to end Indigenous women’s displacement from land

On reserve

Recommendation 45: The federal government must eliminate the discrepancy in federal education funding for First Nations children being educated on reserve and First Nations children being educated off reserve, and provide sufficient funding to close educational attainment gaps.

Recommendations to end Indigenous women’s displacement from land

On reserve

Recommendation 46: Increase funding for the Indigenous Languages Act to preserve, revitalize, and strengthen all Indigenous languages. This should include efforts to hire and accredit language speakers to teach the language as credit courses for Indigenous students.

Recommendations to end Indigenous women’s displacement from land

On reserve

Recommendation 47: Close the gaps in health outcomes between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities and focus on indicators such as infant mortality, maternal health, suicide, mental health, addictions, life expectancy, birth rates, infant and child health issues, chronic diseases, illness and injury incidence, and the availability of appropriate health services.