One of Canada’s oldest and most outdated pieces of legislation will be reformed, repealed and replaced. The Indian Act became the law of the land in 1876. Last night, a private member’s bill from Northern Saskatchewan MP Rob Clarke received Royal Assent, setting up the ground rules for a new modern law that is “more respectful” to Canada’s First Nations people.
It was a three-year fight for Clarke — and there were some ugly moments in the debate along the way — including some controversial remarks made by Saskatchewan Liberal Senator Lillian Dyck earlier this month.
The remarks were aimed at Clarke, although he was not actually there. It happened in the Senate, where Dyck accused Clarke of “white man behaviour” in his attempts to get his private member’s bill on the Indian Act passed. She went on to say: “You can be insulted by that if you like”.
Clarke was. He issued a statement on December 10. In it, he says: “It is regrettable that Senator Lillian Dyck resorted to personal attacks against an elected Member of Parliament while she was speaking on my Bill in the Senate on Tuesday, December 9. I would hope that the Senator will do the right thing; withdraw her comments, and apologize to me, the First Nations community and all Canadians.” She has not. A spokesman in Clarke’s office wants to make it clear Clarke was not offended because Dyck referred to him as “acting like a white man”, but rather, because she used it in a derogatory way, which Clarke says is an offence to all Canadians, both First Nations and white.
In the meantime, Clarke is looking forward to developing new legislation to replace the 138-year-old Indian Act. He says it was horribly outdated and was causing harm to the First Nations communities. Under his private member’s bill, the government must report back to the House of Commons with regular updates on progress being made toward replacing the Act with a more respectful and modern piece of legislation that better reflects the values of the grassroots.