Advocates have joined forces with two Aboriginal senators – Lillian Dyck and Sandra Lovelace -Nicholas – in an awareness campaign that kicked off this week urging the Liberal government to change the bill known as S-3. Part of the outreach, supported by the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action, includes the distribution of a letter to women’s organizations, academics and human rights groups to canvass support on the “full and final removal” of sex discrimination in the Indian Act.

The discrimination has existed since the Indian Act was first introduced in 1876, the letter adds. In June, the Senate unanimously passed a change to Bill S-3 dubbed the “6(1)(a) all the way” amendment, a change designed to ensure Indian women and their descendants have full Indian status like Indian men and not just to 1951 which is which is date the federal government prefers.