{"id":99709,"date":"2025-11-26T16:44:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T21:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=99709"},"modified":"2025-11-26T16:44:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T21:44:11","slug":"island-elder-addresses-senate-during-review-of-indian-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/26\/island-elder-addresses-senate-during-review-of-indian-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Island elder addresses Senate during review of Indian Act"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Jacqueline St. Pierre, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Manitoulin Expositor OTTAWA\u2014Jeanette Corbiere Lavell, called Keewednanung, \u201cNorth Star,\u201d born \u00a0June 21, 1942 in Wiikwemkoong, began a fight against the Indian Act \u2014 that culminated at the Supreme Court \u2014 more than 50 years. A woman of principles and extraordinary ethos, she has fought for the rights of her people and her descendants for more years than the author of this piece has lived. The issues that first prompted her to take action remain today. The marginalization of Indigenous women, rooted in colonial policies, continues to affect diverse communities across the country. Her goal is to see justice reach all those who have suffered the most\u2014Indigenous and non Indigenous alike\u2014restoring humanity to those long denied them. When the tide rises, every&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F11%2F26%2Fisland-elder-addresses-senate-during-review-of-indian-act%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jacqueline St. Pierre, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Manitoulin Expositor OTTAWA\u2014Jeanette Corbiere Lavell, called Keewednanung, \u201cNorth Star,\u201d born \u00a0June 21, 1942 in Wiikwemkoong, began a fight against the Indian Act \u2014 that culminated at the Supreme Court \u2014 more than 50 years. A woman of principles and extraordinary ethos, she has fought for the rights of her people and her descendants for more years than the author of this piece has lived. The issues that first prompted her to take action remain today. The marginalization of Indigenous women, rooted in colonial policies, continues to affect diverse communities across the country. Her goal is to see justice reach all those who have suffered the most\u2014Indigenous and non Indigenous alike\u2014restoring humanity to those long denied them. When the tide rises, every... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F11%2F26%2Fisland-elder-addresses-senate-during-review-of-indian-act%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Island elder addresses Senate during review of Indian Act - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/26\/island-elder-addresses-senate-during-review-of-indian-act\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Island elder addresses Senate during review of Indian Act - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jacqueline St. Pierre, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Manitoulin Expositor OTTAWA\u2014Jeanette Corbiere Lavell, called Keewednanung, \u201cNorth Star,\u201d born \u00a0June 21, 1942 in Wiikwemkoong, began a fight against the Indian Act \u2014 that culminated at the Supreme Court \u2014 more than 50 years. A woman of principles and extraordinary ethos, she has fought for the rights of her people and her descendants for more years than the author of this piece has lived. The issues that first prompted her to take action remain today. The marginalization of Indigenous women, rooted in colonial policies, continues to affect diverse communities across the country. Her goal is to see justice reach all those who have suffered the most\u2014Indigenous and non Indigenous alike\u2014restoring humanity to those long denied them. When the tide rises, every\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/26\/island-elder-addresses-senate-during-review-of-indian-act\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-26T21:44:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"13 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/26\\\/island-elder-addresses-senate-during-review-of-indian-act\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/26\\\/island-elder-addresses-senate-during-review-of-indian-act\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Island elder addresses Senate during review of Indian Act\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-26T21:44:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/26\\\/island-elder-addresses-senate-during-review-of-indian-act\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2849,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/26\\\/island-elder-addresses-senate-during-review-of-indian-act\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/26\\\/island-elder-addresses-senate-during-review-of-indian-act\\\/\",\"name\":\"Island elder addresses Senate during review of Indian Act - 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