Sandra Lovelace v. Canada | The Brian Mulroney Institute of Government

The Lovelace decision came about when Sandra Lovelace, a Maliseet women from the Tobique Reserve in New Brunswick, married an American man and moved away, which effectively stripped her of her Indian status.
When she moved back home to the reserve, Sandra and her children were denied housing, education, and healthcare, all things that are supposed to be provided for status Indians under the Indian Act.
However, at the time, a discriminatory provision under the Indian Act stated that an Indian women who married a non-Indian man would lose her status and all of the rights associated with it (note: the same policy did not apply to Indigenous men who married a non-Indigenous woman).
Due to the precedent set by the Lavell decision, Sandra Lovelace could not appeal her case to the Canadian courts so she submitted an application to the Human Rights Committee at the United Nations stating that this policy violated several Articles under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Ultimately, the Committee found that Canada did in fact breach the ICCPR, which led to the revision of the Indian Act in 1985 to ensure that Indigenous women who marry non-Indigenous men would still retain their status.
This case was a step forward in eliminating gender-based discrimination laws in Canada and also represented a positive step for Indigenous peoples' rights in Canada.

Citation

Kinsella, Noel A. "Sandra Lovelace v. Canada [1977-1981]. Documents made available by the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission. Published by the Indigenous Law Centre at the University of Saskatchewan. September 13, 1981. Accessed August 4, 2022. https://indigenouslaw.usask.ca/publications/sandra-lovelace-v.-canada-1977-1981.php