Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, I have, but they didn't relate to what we're going through today. Language and culture are important, but you can't force that on people. Everything that we tried to actually revive our language and culture in Kitamaat always failed—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I don't know what your community is like, but the laws of my community didn't relate to what we are experiencing today. In fact, I talked to elders in my community about that issue. They said that they couldn't help me, because I was dealing with corporations, I was dealing with government and I was dealing with other first nations.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  They should, without a doubt. Every culture, every society around the world has some form of process or custom related to reconciliation, but none of it really related to what I was doing. Really what I was trying to do was to find a solution for the poverty. We did have a reconciliation process for the first nations in our region, but that really involved allowing them to come into our community and take advantage of the economics that were in place then.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I've been doing this job for about five years now, and the one thing that I really encourage myself to do is to be strong and to ask the tough questions and to say what people don't like to hear. What I talk about is not popular. I know I have a target on my back for what I say, because I'm not politically correct.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We're experiencing this in B.C. right now—the question of political leadership versus legal leadership. It's a question that I said the federal government and provincial governments should stay out of, but they should support some type of initiative and process for every first nation to figure this out.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I didn't say that I didn't agree with Truth and Reconciliation. I said that I didn't really read it—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  —because we had a process in place already that was actually working. I read case law principles because I knew that, really, ultimately, if I was going to move forward, I had to have a relationship with the provincial government, and the case law actually dictated the principles on how we were supposed to operate, and—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Economic reconciliation has got to be a big part of what we're talking about here in terms of the word “reconciliation”, but there are other pieces: the funding agreements—very paternalistic—and the politics of what first nations can do and can't do. In B.C., members of the sitting government actually stated that first nations should not be looking to LNG as part of their future and that they should look to examples of what they did in the Okanagan in terms of real estate development.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Without a doubt, because that's what we're seeing in B.C. right now with UNDRIP. We're seeing it. Everything has slowed down, including 18 LNG projects. We're now down to one major project and three minors. We're seeing it on the ground.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Without a doubt—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's hugely important, especially when we're talking about transparency and accountability, but what are the benchmarks? Will you be looking at unemployment levels, suicide levels, children in government care, people in prison? What will you be measuring? If it's a measurement of government programs, we've been dealing with that for the last 50 or 100 years.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's a really good question. For the most part, within the borders of a province, the province has full responsibility for addressing rights and title infringements, and there is an economic component that goes into addressing those. If a project crosses boundaries or gets into the ocean, then the federal government steps in.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, I would—and Clarence Louie out of the Okanagan. A number of aboriginal leaders feel strongly that economic reconciliation not only lifts up first nations but also obviously lifts up the provinces and the country. The proof is out there. In my community, for example, the economic reconciliation that we participated in not only made us one of the wealthiest bands in B.C., but it also, for some reason, got rid of the alcohol parties.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It discourages first nations, especially the band members who don't want to take sides in that kind of argument. There were first nations on that job site that night, and they were scared. People were running around with axes and fireworks and flares and firing at them. It's not the first time this has happened.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I understand that the committee is considering an act to either define or actually implement reconciliation measures for Canada. That's what I was invited to talk about—my opinion on the word “reconciliation”.