Senator Sandra Lovelace Nicholas

Ms. Sandra Lovelace Nicholas has been a driving force in securing rights for Aboriginal women in Canada, and is also a wonderful example of the impact one woman can have when she sets out to correct an injustice. Challenging discriminatory provisions of the Indian Act, which deprived Aboriginal women of their status when they married non-Aboriginals, she was instrumental in bringing the case before the United Nations Human Rights Commission and lobbying for the 1985 legislation which reinstated the rights of First Nation women and their children in Canada. In 1990, she was awarded the Order of Canada, and in 1992, she received the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case. A Maliseet woman from the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, Sandra Lovelace Nicholas' efforts have helped advance the cause of civil rights in this country, and her pride, strength and determination have made her a role model for many Aboriginal women. A proud mother of 4, she studied at St. Thomas University for 3 years and has a degree in residential construction from the Maine Northern Technical College. She continues to make her home on the Tobique First Nation. Sandra Lovelace Nicholas will be sitting in the Senate as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada.