To be born poor, Indian, and a female is to be a member of the most disadvantaged minority in Canada today. For 109 years the Indian Act of 1868 has discriminated against Canada's Indian women on grounds of race, sex and marital status. It states that an Indian woman marrying a non-Indian man ceases legally to be Indian. She must leave her parents' home and her reserve. She may not own property on the reserve and she may be prevented from inheriting property from her parents. Her children are not recognized as Indian, and she may be prevented from returning to live with her family on the reserve even if she is in dire need, sick, deserted, widowed, separated, or divorced. Indian men may marry whom they please without penalty; their non-Indian spouses and children receive full Indian rights and status. The effects of this legislation on the Indian woman and her children can be very grave materially, culturally, and psychologically. The Indian Act is presently under revision, but displaced Indian women have no voice in the negotiations. This monograph, using both historical and sociological approaches, documents and analyzes discriminatory legislation and explores the consequences. (AUTHOR/DS)