Brenda Sam

In 1980, Brenda Sam was in Ottawa with other members of the Yukon Indian Women’s Association. They wanted the government to change the Indian Act that removed a woman’s Indian status if she married a non-Indian. It took a long hard fight but in 1986 the government passed Bill-C31 to protect status rights for women and their children. Sam was elected to the Ta’an Kwacha ‘an Council in 1979, served throughout the 1980s and was elected chief in 2009. She credits the Women’s Association with bringing confidence and leadership opportunities to women like herself.¹⁾