Bill C-25 (Historical)

Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Act

An Act respecting the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Band Order

This enactment grants to the Governor in Council the power to amend the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation Band Order.

Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Act

[Joe Preston, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot give the member an exact answer, but I can tell him the importance of this piece of legislation. Bill C-25, although technical in nature, would enable the Governor in Council to amend the schedule for the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Band order to ensure that only eligible individuals, in accordance with the enrolment criteria outlined in the 2008 agreement, are granted Indian status and the membership of the first nations.

It is important that we get this piece passed. To answer the member's question, it could be used as a model in the future. However, let us worry right now about Bill C-25, getting it done right, and, because of the timeline that has already taken place, getting it done as quickly as possible.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the issue of status with bands has enormous significance, right across the country. Many people are looking for status. Many people should have status, but do not, and many people who have very marginal claims for status would push for it.

In this case, we understand that there have been many people coming forward claiming the right of status. The question is, how will those claims be adjudicated? What steps will be taken to ensure the validity of the claims? Is there going to be a process in place for appeal? What is the timeline in which this will happen? Justice delayed is justice denied.

We want to make sure this is done properly and that the people who are actually eligible are able to benefit. Could my hon. colleague tell me what the plan is, and what the timeline is for the implementation?

[Joe Preston, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I thought that the minutes I had spent speaking in the House would probably answer most of those questions, but I will try to go at them again.

The review includes a reassessment of applications of those whose names currently appear on the schedule to the order that legally created the first nations. They have become members of the Qalipu Mi'kmaq first nations and are entitled to registration under the Indian Act. It is expected that the review process will last until the summer of 2015 and be followed by an appeal period. Once the process is completed, the schedule to the order that legally created the band, and which contains the list of names of the founding members of the Qalipu Mi'kmaq first nation, will be amended. We are looking at between now and then for the review of the rest of the applications and completion of the process.

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development]

Mr. Speaker, one of the things we have learned as we have debated this bill is that there is a need for fairness for all applicants, whether they applied early on in the process or they were part of the 46,000 people who applied in the last three months of the process. That brought the total number up to 101,000 applicants, who represent about 11% of the number of registered Indians in Canada.

It has been suggested by some members, in particular the member for Western Arctic, that there should be a special class of applicants. I wonder if the member would agree with me that we should treat all applicants, all 101,000 of them, in the same way.

[Joe Preston, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that question fits well with what we are trying to decide here today.

A large amount of applications happened at the end of the process. Some decisions had already been made, but for the most part this is a process concerning the whole Qalipu Mi'kmaq nation. All of the applicants will be reviewed and studied in the same way, going back to those who were already there. It is only fair to look at all applicants in the same light rather than rushing because there were so many applications at the end of the process.

It is also clear that there is a need for us to get to it. Bill C-25 should pass so that we can finish this process and work on establishing the Qalipu Mi'kmaq nation and who rightfully belongs to it.

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to add my voice to the debate today, and I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

First, the purpose of the legislation is important. I want to make it clear and state for the record that Bill C-25, the Qalipu Mi'kmaq first nation act, carefully and fully respects and upholds the original intent of the 2008 agreement between Canada and the Federation of Newfoundland Indians that created the Qalipu Mi'kmaq first nation. In particular, it fully respects and upholds the eligibility criteria set out in the 2008 agreement.

Some parts of this debate may have created concern or confusion in the minds of some Canadians about these points. There should not be any concern or confusion. The original agreement is fully and completely respected and upheld.

The bill before us, the Qalipu Mi'kmaq first nation act, is primarily created to enable the Governor in Council to amend the schedule of names and birthdates of founding members of the Qalipu Mi'kmaq first nation. The Indian Act is unclear as to whether this is possible, so the Parliament of Canada wants to make it clear that the Governor in Council can make the amendment to the schedule of founding members of this new first nation.

As others have said, the reason that amending this schedule of membership was needed was because the Qalipu Mi'kmaq leadership foresaw that those wanting to join the new first nation would be those people living in or around the 67 Newfoundland Mi'kmaq communities identified in the 2008 agreement. The parties expected that people would want to be members of this new first nation and that the number of eligible members would be around 9,000 to 12,000. There were about 10,000 members of the Federation of Newfoundland Indians at that time.

What happened, as other members have said, was that although individuals living outside of those communities could also be members, the intent was that even non-residents could have some strong cultural connections with the Newfoundland Mi'kmaq community. However, to everyone's surprise and shock, there was a flood of applications. In fact, there were about ten times the number of applications received than had been foreseen. There were over 100,000 applications during the four-year enrolment process, and most of these, over 70,000, were received in the final year before the enrolment deadline. Therefore, all of a sudden the Qalipu Mi'kmaq first nation was faced with this incredible flood of applications.

It became very clear that there needed to be some precision put forward to operationalize the agreement that created the first nation and the founding members enrolment. The flood of late applications was not only concentrated toward the end of the enrolment period, in fact almost 50,000 were submitted in the last three months before the application process ended. However, about two-thirds of the applicants did not live in Newfoundland or anywhere close to Mi'kmaq communities; they lived elsewhere in Canada.

Therefore, the Federation of Newfoundland Indians recognized that these numbers were not credible and threatened to undermine the integrity of the enrolment process, and that there would be no time to review these applications before the end of the enrolment process. The Government of Canada and the federation entered into discussions, and after very careful discussion in July 2013, a supplemental agreement was reached in which all applications that had been submitted, except those that had been rejected, would be reviewed for a second time.

It is clear that there has to be some integrity in the process. The Qalipu Mi'kmaq first nation wants to make sure that people joining its community have a real and substantial connection and really care about the community and have a commitment to the community. The first nation wants to make sure that people are not just throwing in an application for personal benefit.

The new agreement clarifies the kind of documentation that would be required. It extends the original time limits and treats everyone fairly by applying the same criteria to everybody.

The applicants have already been given notice that their applications are to be assessed or reassessed. The applicants have an opportunity to provide any additional documentation that would be required, given the clarification of the requirements for membership. The deadline was even extended to February 10, 2014.

The only clarifications that were made were designed to eliminate confusion and misunderstanding about the requirements of the enrolment process, such as documentary requirements. The agreement also extended the timeline in order to make sure that everybody had a chance to make a clear and complete application.

The supplemental agreement that the Federation of Newfoundland Indians reached with the Government of Canada carefully and fully respects and upholds the criteria for enrolment that were originally set out. It does not change them in any way. Nothing changes.

However, there seemed to be some confusion about what would be required. That has been clarified, and applicants have a chance, in light of those clarifications, to submit further documentation and to have another review of their application. The legislation would not alter the enrolment criteria in any way, but it makes clear what is required.

What would the bill do? The bill would provide the Governor in Council with the authority to remove names from the schedule of founding members. It would also prevent individuals from collecting any compensation or damages from the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation or the Government of Canada if it is found that their claim to be not legitimate. This is not a new clause. It is legislation under the Indian Act. It protects the taxpayers of Canada and the first nation from a flood of claims that otherwise could paralyze the work of this group.

This is legislation that the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation needs. The first nation has agreed that it needs to go forward, and I hope that members will support it.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the issue of deciding band lists is very complicated. It certainly has to be done in a manner that is fair to the people who have a right to participate as band members and it needs to ensure that the people who have a marginal claim do not get put on the band list, because there are enormous consequences for the administration in any first nation if it has to deal with people who have very marginal claims who are expecting resources, education, and other resources to be moved through the band.

Given the enormous number of people who have come forward over this period to claim a right to participate as band members, what is the balance between the federal level and the community in ensuring that decisions about the band lists are reached in an accurate and fair manner?

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague and his party for standing with the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation and supporting this important legislation for them.

The member will know the process that has been put in place to assess these applications is a very careful and thorough one. In addition to that, any applicant who is rejected has a right to pursue the matter through the courts as far as that applicant wishes to go.

The Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation is bending over backwards to be inclusive for all those who truly qualify, but at the same time it wants to make sure there are no Qalipu Mi'kmaq of convenience, so to speak. This is a very complete and careful process that fully respects the rule of law and the rights of appeal, even through the levels of our courts.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the other question I have is in terms of the timeline.

These band lists, especially if there are 100,000 people or so making a claim, have enormous implications for the validity of their elections process. We have to understand who is eligible to vote for leadership and who is not.

Has there been a decision in terms of whether the electorate will be within the community or within a larger territory or will include certain members? How is it going to affect the upcoming elections the community will be facing?

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, that is a very important question.

As others have mentioned, the review process will last until the summer of 2015, about a year and a half from now. Once the review process is completed, the schedule that sets out the membership of the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation will be finalized. Then the leadership of the first nation can form the elections and get people into place to move forward to work together.

I guess the short answer is about a year and a half.

[Alain Giguère, NDP, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to point out that we are having a cordial and quite intelligent debate. All MPs truly want to find a solution to this problem. This should happen more often.

I have a relatively simple question about children who were adopted and presently have the status of their parents, who quite often are white. Can my distinguished colleague guarantee that, in these rather critical cases involving people who quite often do not know much about their past, a special effort will be made to ensure that they do not lose their status?

[Diane Ablonczy, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have been a member here for 20 years. I was a member of the opposition for 13 of those years. Holding the government to account is an important role, but at the same time, opposing just to oppose is not particularly helpful to the people of Canada. I agree with my colleague that attacking each other just to attack is not particularly helpful either.

I think the people of Canada are pleased and relieved when members work together in a constructive and respectful way, as we are doing on this legislation. I hope that ethic will spread and grow. That would be great.

We do stand together with this new first nation. It has an important role. It is excited about its future. There are some technical bumps in the road, but we are getting those paved over and we are going to set this first nation on a good path forward.

[Rick Norlock, Conservative, Northumberland—Quinte West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to rise in this House to offer my support for Bill C-25, the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation act.

I will be sharing my time with my good friend and member for Kootenay—Columbia today.

In order to truly understand why this legislation is necessary, I think it is important to have an understanding of the unique circumstances and processes that all parties have gone through in order to bring this bill to this point.

When Newfoundland joined Confederation in 1949, there was no agreement between the new province and Canada on if, how, or when the Indian Act would be applied to the province's Mi'kmaq, who lived primarily on the island of Newfoundland, and the Innu, who lived primarily in Labrador.

From the 1950s to the 1980s, Canada provided ad hoc funding to the province for social and health programs for the aboriginal communities living in that province. Over time, however, both the federal government and the first nation population expressed a desire for a more systemic application of the Indian Act system.

In 1984 the Indian Act was extended to Newfoundland for the first time, to the Mi'kmaq community at Conne River, known as the Miawpukek First Nation. In 2002 it was also extended to Innu bands in Labrador, the Mushuau Innu First Nation and Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation.

Initial efforts to improve relations between Canada and the majority of Mi'kmaq communities on the island of Newfoundland did not result in an agreement. In the late 1980s the Federation of Newfoundland Indians, an organization representing Newfoundland's Mi'kmaq, commenced litigation against Canada, seeking recognition for their members as Indians under the Indian Act and damages and compensation for unpaid benefits.

In 2008 Canada settled the court action through the Agreement for the Recognition of the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Band, which is the 2008 agreement that established a process to recognize the Mi'kmaq of Newfoundland as a landless band and its members as Indians under the Indian Act.

The intent of the 2008 agreement was to establish a landless band for the Mi'kmaq group of Indians of Newfoundland. The parties intended that the founding membership of the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation would be granted primarily to persons living in or around the Newfoundland Mi'kmaq communities named in the 2000 agreement. While individuals living outside of these communities could also become members, the intent of the parties was that non-residents would be required to have maintained a strong cultural connection with a Newfoundland Mi'kmaq community, including a sustained and active involvement in the community, despite their absences.

The 2008 agreement provided for a two-stage enrolment process. The first, which ended on November 30, 2009, was intended to identify the founding members. The second provided for a 36-month process to guarantee that all those who were eligible would have an opportunity to apply and be added to the list of founding members.

After the end of the first stage, the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Band Order, or recognition order, was issued on September 22, 2011. It was this order that established the Qalipu Mi'kmaq band's status as an official first nation.

As a result of the recognition order and three subsequent amendments that were made to this schedule, 23,877 individuals were listed as founding members of the first nation and became entitled to registration as Indians under the Indian Act.

By the time the second stage ended, on November 30, 2012, more than 101,000 applications had been received.

As a result of the large, unanticipated number of applications received—particularly during the last two months of the enrolment process, when over 46,000 applications were received between September 1 and November 30, 2012—both parties agreed to enter into discussions to explore improvements to the enrolment process to ensure that it reflected the original intention of the parties and to provide additional time to ensure that all applications could be reviewed.

Extensive discussions and negotiations between Canada and the Federation of Newfoundland Indians commenced in the fall of 2012 and resulted in the supplemental agreement, which was announced on July 4, 2013.

The supplemental agreement clarifies the process for enrolment and resolves issues that emerged in the implementation of the 2008 agreement, such as the fact that the number of membership applications far exceeded the expectation of both parties, that it was not possible to review all of the applications within the time limits provided in the 2008 agreement, and that the original guidelines for assessment of applications did not provide sufficient clarity and detail to reflect the original intentions of the parties concerned.

The supplemental agreement ensures that the enrolment process is aligned with the original intent of the 2008 agreement. It meets the objective shared by Canada and the Federation of Newfoundland Indians that all applications be treated fairly and equitably and in accordance with the criteria the parties originally negotiated to establish eligibility for membership in the Qalipu Mi'kmaq first nation. It does not change the founding members enrolment criteria set out in the 2008 agreement. Instead, the supplemental agreement provides clarification of the requirements for enrolment, additional documentation requirements for applications, and an extension of the 2008 agreement timelines.

Under the supplemental agreement, all applications submitted since the enrolment process began in December 2008 will be assessed or reassessed by the enrolment committee, except those that had previously been rejected. It is estimated that the review process will take approximately two and a half years. While we recognize that this is a substantial amount of time, it is necessary to ensure that the original intent of the agreement is honoured and that those individuals and only those individuals with Qalipu Mi'kmaq ancestry will be registered.

The requirement under the supplemental agreement to review all applications received, including those found to be eligible under the previous process, means that it is possible that a number of the 23,877 founding members will lose their membership and their entitlement to be registered as Indians under the Indian Act if they do not meet the criteria of the 2008 agreement, as applied in accordance with the original intention of the parties. This means that only individuals with genuine Qalipu Mi'kmaq heritage will be registered as Indians through the process.

This is part of the reason Bill C-25 is so important. It gives the Governor in Council the authority to amend the recognition order so that it accurately reflects those individuals who are rightfully entitled to Indian status and the benefits therein.

Certainty is required to ensure that the supplemental agreement can be implemented and can thereby ensure the integrity of the enrolment process and of the Qalipu Mi'kmaq first nation. This certainly can only be obtained by implementing legislation that would provide the Governor in Council with the appropriate authority to make the required corrections to the recognition order and to ensure that persons who have Qalipu ancestry receive the rights and benefits they are entitled to.

For this reason, I urge all members to support Bill C-25 and impart to all members of the Qalipu Mi'kmaq first nation the status that is rightfully theirs. Legislation is required to provide the Governor in Council with the authority necessary to amend the recognition order, or more specifically, to add names to or remove names of founding members from the schedule to the order after the enrolment process under the supplemental agreement is completed.

An amendment to the schedule to the order in council will be required to add the names of those found to be entitled to be members and to remove the names of those found not to be entitled to be members of the Qalipu Mi'kmaq first nation.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is certainly important for us as Canadians to move forward on these settlement agreements so that we can bring assurance to the territories of our country but also to ensure justice for first nations people who have been denied it for so long.

I would like to ask my colleague a question. The issue of landless communities across this country is serious. We are dealing with communities that have been fighting for their basic right to be recognized, in some instances, for well over a century. In the Quebec region, there are the Algonquin of Wolf Lake. Between Ontario and Quebec, there are the Algonquin in the Mattawa region. That is just in one small area, but right across the country there are unresolved cases dealing with the rights and recognition of people who do not have status or a land base recognized by the federal government.

Could my hon. colleague tell us whether he thinks this agreement could be a model and whether we could start to move forward on solving some of these outstanding problems that have plagued our country for much too long?

[Rick Norlock, Conservative, Northumberland—Quinte West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my hon. friend has hit on some very important questions. The questions are, basically, fairness, equity, and living up to the commitments this country has to its first nations brothers and sisters. This is a perfect example of how, working with a first nations community and an Innu community, we can make sure that we do the right thing and that people who are entitled to certain rights and benefits in this country get those rights and benefits. This is a government that has been doing that since day one. I forget the exact number, but it is significant, if we compare that same time span to the age of this country, which is almost 150 years old.

The member is entirely correct. This is about fairness. It is about having a model we can use in other negotiations with our first nations brothers and sisters and the whole aboriginal community right across this country, from north to south and east to west.

I want to thank him for the question. He and I both know that this is setting us on the right path and is a good blueprint for future such agreements.