Evidence of meeting #54 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was students.
A video is available from Parliament.
6:35 p.m.
Executive Director, Mi'kmaw Kina'matnewey
I don't need the French translation.
6:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Jamie Schmale
Ms. Gill does. We do on this end. Then we'll reset the clock, Ms. Gould.
6:35 p.m.
NDP
Lori Idlout NDP Nunavut, NU
[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]
The question was this. To get to where you are in self-governance, what did you have to do? What steps did you have to take to get everything that you needed and that brought you to where you are today?
6:35 p.m.
Executive Director, Mi'kmaw Kina'matnewey
Thank you.
This is a quick historical dive. In 1991, the assembly of chiefs here in Nova Scotia approached the then Department of Indian Affairs and proposed a Mi'kmaq education authority to assume jurisdiction and control over first nation education. That conversation went from what we would call a devolution of education programs from DIAND into more of the jurisdictional transfer from Canada, subsequently Nova Scotia, to the Mi'kmaq.
That conversation started through a lot of assurances on nailing the vision. That happened through a political accord—the Mi'kmaq education framework—and then that was used to inform what we now call the Mi'kmaq main agreement. That was an original agreement. It's still in its original form today in 1997. The authority itself, federal legislation and provincial legislation all speak to both of those.
Through that, of course, legislation was the official transfer of jurisdiction from Canada to the Mi'kmaq.
6:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Jamie Schmale
Thank you very much for that testimony.
Thank you to our witnesses for joining us here today.
Thank you to our committee members, who had great questions. This is great evidence that we will include in our study.
I'd like to thank the committee for their patience—
6:40 p.m.
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC
I have a point of order, Mr. Chair. I wanted to commend the chair on doing such a great job as chair in such a difficult situation today.
Well done, Chair.
6:40 p.m.
Liberal
Jaime Battiste Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS
On a point of order, Mr. Chair, I don't think that's a point of order, but I would like to echo the comments and thank you for your pinch-hitting on a very surprising day today for all of us in the committee, and for all of our witnesses who had to endure it with us as we went through this day.
You did a great job, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
6:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Jamie Schmale
Thank you to the committee for making it easy on me. You really took it easy on me.
I did not expect to do this when I woke up this morning, so I'm sure this came as a surprise to everyone.
I want to say I will miss our chair, Marc Garneau. He was a steady hand at this committee and a lot of fun to work with. His leadership will be missed. His service not only to Parliament but as a minister, as head of the Canadian Space Agency and as part of our military.... He is the true leader that I think we all aspire to become.
Thank you, everyone. I will adjourn.