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Quebec Native Women has launched a petition calling for the abolition of the Indian Act — “an archaic, patriarchal and assimilationist law that no longer serves a purpose.”

At a news conference on Saturday, the president of Quebec Native Women, Viviane Michel, said the law disproportionately restricts women from passing their Indian status on to their children.

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The United Nations Human Rights Committee reproached Canada for violating its international obligations for that reason last month, after a long battle led by Sharon McIvor of the Lower Nicola Valley band in British Columbia.

“Once again, the Indian Act has been declared discriminatory. We want to make sure that this battle is the last,” Michel said during the Sha’tetiónkwate public forum in Montreal.

The activist, originally from an Innu community in the Côte-Nord, said First Nations women have been launching legal challenges to the Indian Act for decades.