I'm so honoured to be in front of the committee.

I want to thank and acknowledge those who are bringing forward this bill, and especially the bravery of Isabella.

I think many or most indigenous women in this country, including our children, have experienced systemic discrimination. I'm really sad that Isabella went to school displaying something that clearly was important to her culture, her family and her community and it simply failed to be respected as special and unique.

As our member of Parliament from Nunavut has explained, the ribbon skirt is not actually part of our culture and our tradition. The amautiit, which are what we wear for carrying our children, and the kamiik—boots—are all handmade and require immense special skill. There is absolutely no intended disrespect to the bill. As I think Lori has explained well, in the spirit of inclusivity, it's just to simply recognize and acknowledge that ribbon skirts are not really part of our culture.

Maybe the language in the proposed bill to bring about that level of inclusivity or that recognition of the distinction between the different cultures is to not try to undermine the spirit and the intent of the bill. We as indigenous women, we as women, and the fathers of our children want to be able to proudly wear our traditional clothing in the schools, in our ceremonies, at our meetings and in our conferences as a way of demonstrating that we do exist, and what we wear is an incredibly important way of demonstrating that our culture is strong and alive and that we do want to advance it.

This is not to disrespect Isabella, her family and the folks who are sponsoring this bill, but I do think a very small amendment to the bill would bring about and foster that level of inclusivity, because it is something that our children have also experienced, that our people have experienced when we do wear our traditional clothing. The goal of this bill—as we totally understand and support—is to try to recognize and demonstrate that we should be able to do this proudly without fear and without discrimination.

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