Until 1985, the Indian Act removed the rights of women with Indian Status if they married someone without status.  Indigenous women began to bring cases against the Indian Act to eliminate sex-based inequities in the Indian Act and to restore their status rights.  These women included Jeannette Corbiere Lavell who describes to Rise Up her long struggle to regain her status under the Indian Act.  Although finally successful in winning her status rights, Jeannette also discusses the ongoing problems for the children of Indigenous women after two generations of intermarriage with non-status partners, thereby limiting the ability to transfer status to one’s children.

With Jeannette Corbiere Lavell.

Interviewed by Sue Colley