McIvor is Just the Start - The Indian Act is Full of Discrimination
So by now, everyone has heard of the McIvor case and knows that the registration provisions of the Indian Act , otherwise referred to as "status", will be amended as a result. The question remains: what are we going to do about the discrimination that won't be addressed by those amendments? For anyone who hasn't heard of Sharon McIvor v. Canada - a brief overview of the case is necessary. Sharon McIvor is a status Indian and member of the Lower Nicola Band in British Columbia. However, she wasn't always a status Indian. For most of her life, she was a non-status Indian because she traced her ancestry through her maternal side. Had she been able to trace her ancestry through her paternal side, status would not have been a question. In 1985 when Bill C-31 was passed and the Indian Act was amended, McIvor applied for status. When her application for status was denied by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), she immediately appealed the decision to the Regist