Feds Granted Extension To Change Act

Feds Granted Extension To Change Act

Friday, July 02, 2010 at 15:23

(CP) The federal government has been granted another extension to fix the federal Indian Act after a B.C. court ruled the law violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled in April 2009 that two sections of the act discriminate against aboriginal women who married non-aboriginal men and their children because of how it confers Indian status to the women’s grandchildren.

The court gave the federal government one year to fix the law, but this past April, Ottawa asked for an extension until July 5.

Now, with Parliament on summer break and the fall session not scheduled to begin until September, the federal government has asked to have until Jan. 31, 2011.

The B.C. Court of Appeal has agreed to that request, but warned the federal government that a violation of the Charter of Rights is a “serious matter” that must be dealt with quickly.

Changes were tabled in Parliament earlier this year to extend status to the grandchildren of women who married non-aboriginals _ a change that could add as many as 45,000 people to the Indian registry, which provides extended health benefits, money for education and exemption from some taxes.