Sandra Lovelace Nicholas, Maliseet, 1948-
She is a Canadian senator representing New Brunswick.
She was appointed by Prime Minister Paul Martin on September 21,
2005. A Maliseet from Tobique First Nation, she is an activist
for aboriginal rights. She became known internationally when,
in 1977, she petitioned the United Nations over the treatment
by the Canadian government of aboriginal women and children in
Canada, in the case known as Sandra Lovelace v. Canada. In 1985,
she successfully had a section of the Indian Act removed which
revoked an aboriginal woman's Indian status if she married a non-aboriginal
man. In 1990, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada and,
in 1992, she received the Governor General’s Award in Commemoration
of the Persons Case. A longer biography appears in Native
Leaders of Canada.
