Report of the Ministerial Representative : Rapport de la représentante ministérielle sur les questions liées aux biens immobiliers matrimoniaux dans les réserves

The relevant standard in federal analysis of how to respond to the legislative gap has been what the law provides off reserves, while for First Nations the relevant standard is recognition of the validity of First Nation values and traditions in relation to land and family. [...] As the parties were unable to reach consensus, the heart of this report reflects what I heard throughout the three phases of the matrimonial real property process and supports the recommendations I am making in Chapter 7. 3 The process involved parallel and joint activities by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, the Assembly of First Nations and the Native Women’s Association of Canada to engage F [...] The task of recognizing First Nations’ inherent jurisdiction over their lands and citizens in respect to matrimonial real property is a matter of urgency, in order to ensure the application and enforcement of laws suitable to the unique legal, cultural and social context of First Nation communities. [...] In 1872 the Grand Council of Ontario and Quebec Indians (founded in 1870) sent a strong letter to the Minister at Ottawa protesting among other things section 6 of the 1869 Act in the following unmistakable terms: ‘They (members of the Grand Council) also desire amendments to Section 6 of the Act of 1869 so that Indian women may have the privilege of marrying when and whom they please; without sub [...] Indians had not been consulted before as to their wishes.”13 These pleas were rejected by the Indian Affairs Department of the time on the rationale that “by the alteration of the definition of Indian by the Statute of 1876 the Dominion very substantially reduced the number of people for whose welfare it was responsible and by that action passed the responsibility on to the provinces for thousands