McNally Robinson Booksellers is Pleased to Present Pamela Palmater Reading and Signing Beyond Blood: Rethinking Indigenous Identity Wednesday, October 19, 7:30pm, Art Alcove Beyond Blood: Rethinking Indigenous Identity (Purich Publishing Ltd.) What impact does status have on band membership codes? What limits, if any, should be placed on the right to determine citizenship? Author Pamela Palmater argues that the Indian Act's registration provisions will lead to the extinguishment of First Nations as legal and constitutional entities. The current status criteria contain descent-based rules akin to blood quantum that are particularly discriminatory against women and their descendants. Beginning with an historic overview of legislative enactments defining Indian status and their impact on First Nations, Dr. Palmater examines contemporary court rulings dealing with Aboriginal rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in relation to Indigenous identity. She also examines various band membership codes to determine how they affect Indigenous identity, and how their reliance on status criteria perpetuates discrimination. She offers suggestions for a better way of determining Indigenous identity and citizenship and argues that First Nations themselves must determine their citizenship based on ties to the community, not blood or status. Dr. Palmater teaches politics at Ryerson University and holds a JSD in law from Dalhousie University. She was denied Indian status as a Mi’kmaq because her grandmother married a non-Indian. Join us on Facebook, & twitter@McNallyevents McNally Robinson Booksellers Saskatoon 3130 8th St. E. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7K 0A7 Phone 306-955-3599 (Toll Free 1-877-506-7456) Copyright (C) 2009 McNally Robinson Booksellers All rights reserved.