First Nations Divorce Stokes Ire in Canada

By Wency Leung

WeNews correspondent

Monday, February 15, 2010

A Canadian bill that would protect the divorce rights of aboriginal women is being delayed by the suspension of parliament. Some First Nations women's advocates oppose the proposed law as infringing on their sovereignty.

First Nations elder and Trent University professor Shirley Williams VANCOUVER, British Columbia (WOMENSENEWS)--After enduring an abusive marriage for more than a decade, Shirley Williams knew she needed to get out.

Williams, a First Nations elder, decided she could no longer put up with her husband's alcohol-fueled violence and in 1979, at the age of 40, she packed up and left.

"I didn't want to live like that anymore," Williams said. "Things were not improving. He wasn't going to change and somebody had to change."

With nowhere to live, Williams, now 71, said she relied on the help of friends and family and enrolled in university to earn a degree in indigenous studies.

Other First Nations women in Canada, she is quick to note, are not so fortunate.

Due to a gap in legislation over matrimonial property rights for couples living on First Nations reservations, some First Nations women find themselves homeless when their relationships break down.

Provincial and territorial laws relating to matrimonial property do not apply on reservations, which are governed under the Indian Act, a statute that regulates First Nations people. The Indian Act, however, is silent on the issue of matrimonial property rights.

"Similar rights and remedies are available to all other Canadians through provincial and territorial laws which currently can't be applied on reserves, a fact our government finds unacceptable," Nina Chiarelli, director of communications for the Minister of Indian Affairs, said in an e-mail.

Chiarelli said the government remains committed to resolving the issue, which is exclusive to First Nations people living on reservations. "First Nations people should have access to these protections just like everyone else," she said.

The Ministry of Indian Affairs has drafted Bill C-8, which would set out provisional federal rules, such as ensuring the equal division of a couple's matrimonial property on reservations, until various First Nations communities develop their own laws.

It was scheduled to be deliberated in parliament in January.

Parliament Suspension Delays Bill

However, that bill, along with many others, has been delayed since Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper decided in late December to suspend parliament, which will continue while the country hosts the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

Williams, professor emeritus of indigenous studies at the Ontario-based Trent University and an Ojibwa and Odawa elder, said the bill would be particularly helpful for mothers fleeing domestic violence.

Such women, she said, can sometimes be forced, due to safety concerns, to leave their reservations--and their community and cultural connections.

Many women wind up at temporary women's shelters and struggle to maintain custody of their children, said Williams, who has no children of her own but was temporarily a primary caregiver for two of her sister's children. "I think a lot of women are afraid if they don't find a place, their children will be taken away [by social services] because they can't afford to all be together."

The bill, however, has not won the favor of many First Nations groups, including the Native Women's Association of Canada, the Assembly of First Nations and the Union of B.C. (British Columbia) Indian Chiefs. They have all objected to the government's failure to consult First Nations communities affected by the bill, as well as its infringement on First Nations sovereignty. While the Ministry of Indian Affairs' mandate is to help First Nations people develop healthier, more sustainable communities, it is not run by aboriginal groups.