Harper does not like Indigenous female activists who seek equality and speak out against the racist and discriminatory policies of the Department of Indian Affairs (“INAC”). In case you haven’t noticed, I have been fairly outspoken on the discriminatory and dysfunctional Department of Indian Affairs and the Indian Act!
INAC is the most incompetent federal Department of them all and inside, it is extremely dysfunctional. It is all about building personal empires and climbing the ranks in the public service, hence the waste and inappropriate use of resources and our tax dollars.
Harper has retaliated against me by trying to disenfranchise me and my family (a huge family) from the Indian Act. In other words, he has a team that is in the process of “determining our right to registration” as “Status Indians” under the Indian Act. Harper is looking for a way to tell me that I am no longer an “Indian” and therefore, must assimilate into mainstream society.
Harper is likely planning to tell me by letter that I am no longer an “Indian” as a form of punishment for challenging his discriminatory policies and not behaving like a “good little Indian”, i.e. do not “criticize” anyone, including your own leaders, and be quiet.
The best part of this issue is that Harper DID NOT even notify me that he was in the “process of determining” my right to registration as a “status Indian”!! I only discovered this action yesterday because I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Someone made a comment on Facebook and I looked into it. Imagine my surprise??? Wow...the man upstairs was definitely looking out for me!!
Harper is investigating my deceased grandmother, Minnie Iserhoff, and her descendants, which includes me and many of my aunts and cousins who have acquired rights under the Indian Act. Minnie Iserhoff (nee Solomon) is a full-blooded Cree woman as was her husband, my grandfather, David Iserhoff. My mother is full-blooded Cree as well. Blood quantum should not be used as a factor to determine “Indianness” but I am trying to make a point. You can’t get anymore “Indian” than 100% blood quantum!
Minnie was left off the Indian Registry in 1951 because she married David. David was left off the Indian Registry in 1951 because his father, Samuel Iserhoff, gave up his family’s right to treaty in the early 1900’s when David was a minor child and also because David was a veteran in World War I. In 1985, Minnie was reinstated under Bill C-31 as a s.6(1)(c) Indian and in 2000, David was reinstated as a s.6(1)(d) Indian and I was reinstated as s.6(2) Indian. My children are non-status. My mother is a s.6(1)(f) Status Indian and she was reinstated in 1985.
The Indian Act registration rules are very complex and INAC uses this complexity to its advantage to deny Aboriginal women the right to be a “status Indian” under the Indian Act. One of the discriminatory parts of this issue is that while INAC is investigating and trying to disenfranchise me and my family from the Indian Act in 2011, they are protecting the rights of non-Aboriginal women who acquired Indian Status through marriage to an “Indian”. There is no process in the Indian Act to disenfranchise non-Aboriginal women who married “Indians”! Why are we, as Aboriginal women, capable of being disenfranchised in 2011and not the non-Aboriginal women? This is the thanks that my grandfather received from Canada for serving Canada in World War I. “You are no longer Indian”.
I am going to challenge this process because it is discriminatory towards Aboriginal women!! Aboriginal women have rights to equality and retaliation or not, I will never back down from Harper or anyone on this issue.
To all the descendants of Minnie and David Iserhoff, please notify me immediately if you have received any letters from Indian Affairs advising you that your right to be a “Status Indian” under the Indian Act has been taken away or is in the process of being reviewed. My email address is Charlene_desrochers@sympatico.ca.
Once again, in December 2010, the “National Chiefs” of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, the Assembly of First Nations, and the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples did not consult the people and sold out all Aboriginal women and their children, in exchange for money, by supporting the discriminatory amendments to the Indian Status registration rules in Bill C-3. Real leaders advocate for the rights of their people, not the federal government and themselves.
I completely agree with everything that you are saying and I think it's wonderful that you are so outspoken. However, why is it just the women that you are so focused on? What about your male family members who are also being discriminated against?
ReplyDeleteAlso, how do you know that it is actually Harper who is specifically coming after you? Do you have any proof that you and your families registration is being reviewed because of your outspokenness and that INAC is being spiteful directly towards you?
I'm not saying this to put you down, I think everything that you are doing and saying is great, I just had a few questions.
Keep up the great work!