Ontario Court of Appeal Photo Credit Lynn Gehl
While many people are aware of the newly entitled registrants resulting from the Stéphane Descheneaux 2015 court victory, few people are aware of the newly entitled registrants resulting from Lynn Gehl's court victory challenging Indian and Northern Affairs Canada's unknown and unstated paternity policy.
Through Bill S3, An Act to Amend the Indian Act (the elimination of sex-based discrimination), the Descheneaux remedy will result in as many as 35,000 new registrants; this is an estimated finite number. The Gehl remedy, though, will result in as many as 100,000 new registrants with no finite number, as the policy remedy applies to all situations where the father is unknown.
Through Bill S3, An Act to Amend the Indian Act (the elimination of sex-based discrimination), the Descheneaux remedy will result in as many as 35,000 new registrants; this is an estimated finite number. The Gehl remedy, though, will result in as many as 100,000 new registrants with no finite number, as the policy remedy applies to all situations where the father is unknown.
Lynn Gehl, Ph.D. is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. In 2017 she won an Ontario Court of Appeal case on sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Algonquin land claims process. Recently she published Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit. You can reach her through, and see more of her work, at www.lynngehl.com
