The Indian Act : Loi sur les Indiens

Over 20 First Nations communities have ratified land codes in place; 58 are listed in the Schedule to the FNLMA • The 1999 ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada in Corbiere v. Canada (Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs)10 held that subsection 77(1) of the Indian Act denying off-reserve First Nations members the right to vote in band elections held under the Act violated the equality rights pr [...] In the 2007 Esquega decision,11 the Federal Court ruled that the residency requirement for 7 A copy of the memorandum is available at Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Education and First Nations Students and Communities in the Province of New Brunswick, . [...] The Court issued a suspended declaration of invalidity of the provision that was narrowed by the Federal Court of Appeal in May 2008 to apply only to the residency portion.12 • DIAND’s response to the Corbiere decision calling for a longer-term, broader electoral reform and possible additional adjustments to the Indian Act resulted in the most recent proposal to reform the Indian Act regime. [...] In 2007, Canada and the FNI reached the Agreement for the Recognition of the Qalipu Mi’kmaq Band, which provides for the creation of a landless Indian Act band.18 FNI members ratified the Agreement in May 2008; the enrolment of eligible Mi’kmaq is expected to be completed in 2010. [...] In April 2009, the federal government’s appeal was dismissed by the BC Court of Appeal which, while upholding the Charter infringement, ruled that a narrower population was affected by it.27 In response to the Court’s suspended declaration of invalidity of the offending sections of the Indian Act for one year the Minister of Indian Affairs announced on 2 June 2009 that the government would not be