Canoe Lake - Equality For All

Canoe Lake Cree First Nation has 2,640 registered status Indians; however, a large majority of these people have been denied membership. These people are therefore not allowed to vote or participate in the Canoe Lake Cree First Nation election or obtain other benefits of membership with the band. This is due to the 1987 Canoe Lake Cree First Nation Membership Code simply adopting provisions of the then existing Indian Act. These provisions in the Indian Act were subsequently held by the courts to be unconstitutional as they discriminated against certain people on the basis of sex. Parliament has since changed the Indian Act to try and address some of this inherent discrimination in the Indian Act. This has resulted in more people’s right to be a status Indian being recognized; however, because the 1987 Canoe Lake Cree First Nation Membership Code relied on the prior provisions in the Indian Act, it perpetuated the discrimination by not recognizing these people as being members of the band. There are 2,640 registered members but only 700 band members (voters).  On December 16th, we had an election where 521 people determined who our leaders were leaving 1100 people without a voice. In 2020, in this country, equal opportunity is a protected right which is why we are working with MLT Aikins LLP to appeal this election based on the gross discrimination that took place and prevented over 1100 of us from participating in our community’s election process. Our goal is to get this election set aside and new one issued under fairer circumstances, an election where all of us can participate. If you would like more information about the campaign, please feel free to call me (Craig) at 1-306-291-4918. Thank you for taking the time to read this and for supporting the cause by donating and/or sharing our campaign.