Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to Senator Harder’s motion on the message from the other place regarding Bill S-3. I thank those who have spoken before me on this subject both today and yesterday.

It is indeed humbling to stand with all of you, my colleagues, as we are poised at this historic milestone for the rights of indigenous women and their descendants. At this time, I’m reminded of the feelings many of us experienced in 1982 when the country’s constitution was repatriated, but women, those who were racialized and disabled and other groups who experienced ongoing discrimination were advised we would have to wait three years for section 15, the equality provisions, to be implemented.

Indigenous women are still waiting for equality.

With this motion, the government is asserting that it will no longer be a question as to whether to remove the pre-1951 cut-off and the distinction between 6(1)(a) and section 6(1)(c) status from the Indian Act. Rather, the question is when: When will all forms of sex-based discrimination be removed from the act?

In addition to the work of Senators Harder and Lankin on this motion, I wish to acknowledge Senator McPhedran, who moved the initial “6(1)(a) all the way” amendment to Bill S-3 at committee, all members of the Aboriginal Peoples Committee and, particularly, our chair — Senator Dyck — our deputy chair — Senator Patterson — and Senators Lovelace Nicholas, Sinclair, Christmas and Watt. Together you have helped to lay the groundwork for the new provisions before us that seek to remove the pre-1951 cut-off from the Indian Act.

The history of the Indian Act for indigenous women has been one of equality denied, equality deferred and, now, equality delayed. Since yesterday, I’ve heard from indigenous women whose equality is still pending. These women, who are subject to the pre-1951 cut-off, are amongst the most marginalized and vulnerable, and they are aging. We are telling these people to wait. Some may not live to experience this delayed equality, depending on when the provisions are enacted by the anticipated order-in-council.

This is what the government did when it came to indigenous veterans, and I want to acknowledge that today is the day we recognize indigenous veterans. It also happened for residential school survivors. Justice delayed is, too often, justice denied.

Indigenous women have led the fight against the sexist legacy of the Indian Act — women like our colleagues Senator Lovelace Nicholas and Senator Dyck, as well as women like Mary Two-Axe Earley, Jeannette Corbiere Lavell, Yvonne Bédard, Sharon McIvor, Patricia Monture, Dr. Pam Palmater and now, also in the context of Bill S-3, Susan and Tammy Yantha and Dr. Lynn Gehl.

The government has responded to their challenges, their advocacy and the court orders that they have obtained by doing the bare minimum and sometimes, like now, promising more actions and more consultations instead of embracing immediate, broader and more meaningful change. We saw this in 1985 as a response to the Lovelace decision, and we saw this in 2010 as a response to the McIvor decision. I am deeply worried that we may be witnessing this again in 2017 as a response to the Descheneaux decision.

The motion before us asks indigenous women and their descendants to take another risk, to settle for smaller victories now and trust that the potentially groundbreaking provisions in this motion will come into force following an unspecified period of consultation. We should all be asking: Why is there no end date?

I’m prepared to join my colleagues in voting for this amendment, but I cannot do so without clearly articulating my fear that we are also taking a risk in supporting this amendment. We are banking on our capacity, through the reporting provisions included in the bill, to oversee the consultation process, to exert pressure to make it effective and to maintain focus on this objective, potentially over several years and through an election cycle.

While I applaud the government’s movement, I understand the frustration of indigenous women today and share their concerns about delaying the coming into force of these provisions.

In 1982, we were upset with the delay in implementation of the equality provisions of the Charter, but at least we knew when they would come into effect. Indigenous women deserve no less. There should be an implementation date included in this legislation.

We must appreciate that, given the historical context, many may be distressed by this delay and skeptical of the consultation process proposed in this motion.

We must also recognize that the ramifications of a vote in favour of this bill do not end for us. I want to support wholeheartedly what we’ve just heard from both Senator Sinclair and Senator Christmas. Our responsibility does not end with this vote. The ramification of a vote in favour of this bill is that after the bill is passed, a vote for this motion must be understood as a signal from this chamber that we understand our obligation to see the consultative process through, standing with and supporting indigenous women in order to ensure that action will finally be taken to right these enduring historical wrongs. Together, honourable senators, we must work to ensure that justice is finally done. Thank you.