Thanks so much, Chair.
Thanks to all the witnesses for being here today for this very important study that I'm really honoured our committee was so open to study.
I wanted to start with Ellen Gabriel.
You wrote a column for the Ricochet, discussing the violence against indigenous land offenders and you wrote this: “Reconciliation cannot happen as long as the colonial project,”—you were referring to the use of indigenous homelands for profit and the violence against land and water defenders—“and the violence it inflicts, exists. Only through understanding human rights and the Indigenous laws that protect the environment and all our relations can we move forward.”
In the spirit of this, how can human rights and indigenous laws be upheld to move forward together and ensure that indigenous women, girls, 2SLGBTQQIA individuals and land defenders remain safe from violence, particularly women on the front lines?