Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Very quickly, we do deal with that in two areas in our document. Number one, the policies show a reluctance to trust first nation governments and first nation governance of lands. The policies need to be more embracing of reconciliation, and need to recognize that self-government has succeeded in Canada.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Different nations, the Métis or the Inuit may have different views of terminology, but one of the difficulties, as suggested by Phil Goulais, is that “restitution” sounds like a recognition that all of the sovereignty and rights are with the Crown, and that the Crown then gives lands back or renounces what the Crown had.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  When you read the current ATR policy, it now stretches for 59 pages. It includes a 13-page application form and typically requires first nations to provide a 20-page submission just to get their ATR submission started. The ATR policy sets very narrow, restricted categories under which Canada might consider adding lands.