[2] Collectively the Indigenous Famous Six were active in challenging the sex discrimination in the Indian Act in Canada during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
[3] While the first Indigenous woman to speak out nationally and internationally about the sex discrimination in the Indian Act in the 1960s was Mary Two-Axe Earley,[4] the members of the Indigenous Famous Six consisted of six contemporary women who were active in challenging the sex discrimination in the Indian Act either as plaintiffs, international actors and/or proponents at the senate level: Jeannette Corbiere Lavell, Yvonne Bedard, Senator Sandra Lovelace-Nicolas, Sharon McIvor, Dr. Lynn Gehl, and Senator Lillian Dyck.
What is more, it was through the 1985 amendments to the Indian Act where Canada created yet another new form of sex discrimination regarding the matter of unknown and unstated paternity.
Then the court relied on the 1951 double-mother clause imposed on the descendants of Indian men as the comparator group to narrow down the remedy.
The Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear her appeal and so McIvor quickly filed a petition with the United Nations.
[11] As Canada was making these arguments that all the sex discrimination was being addressed through Bill S-3 Lynn Gehl's case on unknown and unstated paternity was heard in the Ontario Court of Appeal.
[12] After 16 years of litigation, Gehl won her case on appeal in 2017 when the court argued Canada had to be reasonable and look at the circumstantial evidence of her own father's birth.
Like other members of the Indigenous Famous Six Gehl has a long history of advocacy regarding the need for Canada to eliminate the sex discrimination in the Indian Act.
[14] In the fall of 2021, "Gehl v Canada: Challenging Sex Discrimination in the Indian Act" was published with University of Regina Press.
Under the leadership of Senator Lillian Dyck, the committee undertook several unique moves to make the government amend the bill to fulfill its stated objectives.
[18]While Canada was consulting on the matter of the ongoing and never-ending sex discrimination in the Indian Act, on January 11, 2019, the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights committee ruled on Sharon McIvor's 2010 petition.
The UN committee concluded that Canada was under an obligation to provide Sharon McIvor and her son Jacob Grismer with an effective remedy.
Further, Canada was obligated to ensure that section 6(1)a of the 1985 Indian Act be interpreted as to provide 6(1)a registration equally to all persons born before April 17, 1985, regardless of their patrilineal or matrilineal descent.
On August 16, 2019 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued an order-in-council proclaiming all outstanding provisions of Bill S-3 into force this ending 162 years of sex discrimination in the Indian Act.