Finance committee  I'm Annie Carrier. I'm the principal manager of the aboriginal tax policy section within the Department of Finance.

Finance committee  Yes. I will respond in French. The position of the Government of Canada is that court rulings—

Finance committee  The decision in the Benoit case. Individuals who were descendants under Treaty 8 were asking that their tax immunity be recognized as a treaty right. They did not win their case before the courts. Canada won another case as well, where first nations were asking for recognition of a treaty or aboriginal right.

Finance committee  Yes, I trained as a lawyer.

Finance committee  I am a member of the Quebec Bar, but I do not work for the Department of Justice. However, our Justice lawyers argue all these cases.

Finance committee  Perhaps I could complete that answer. The Government of Canada respects the decisions handed down in the Haida and Taku cases, where it was found that the aboriginal people have ancestral rights and that the Crown has a duty to consult them and accommodate them when a treaty or ancestral right is at stake.