Bill C-29

National Council for Reconciliation Act

An Act to provide for the establishment of a national council for reconciliation

This enactment provides for the establishment of a national council for reconciliation as an independent, non-political, permanent and Indigenous-led organization whose purpose is to advance reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous peoples.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank the witnesses for being with us today.

I have questions about consultations prior to drafting Bill C‑29.

You mentioned several times that many people had been consulted. Obviously, you know how many First Nations there are in Canada and on their own territories. Were they all consulted ahead of time?

[Gary Vidal, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, folks, for being here today. I think most of you were on the technical briefing the other night, if I can remember the faces in the checkerboard instead of in person. I appreciate the other night as well.

I want to go through a little bit of timing, and I want you to help me out with a couple of things to make sure I understand. If I'm clear, the government announced the creation of an interim board of directors in December 2017. That was through a Governor in Council appointment, which would be directed by cabinet. This interim board that was appointed at that time did their work and issued a final report to the then-minister on June 12, 2018, with 20 fairly specific recommendations.

In the technical briefing the other night, you indicated that these recommendations were the basis for the draft legal framework, which ultimately ended up in Bill C-29 now.

It appears that the vast majority of the work was already done by June 2018 to create this council. That was when the work happened, but not until December 2021 did the minister actually take that next step, as advised by the interim board and the report, to appoint the transitional committee members. Finally, in March 2022, the final recommendations of that group were given back to the minister to go ahead and finalize the legislation.

My first question is simply this: Is that an accurate time frame? Have I understood that well?

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

We will now begin with 30 minutes on receiving witnesses with respect to proposed legislation Bill C-29.

We have with us this afternoon for the first half hour, and they will stay on for the hour when the minister will join them, Mr. Andy Garrow, director, policy and strategic direction, reconciliation secretariat, planning and partnerships; Ms. Kate Ledgerwood, director general, policy and strategic direction, also from the reconciliation secretariat; and Ms. Seetal Sunga, senior counsel from the Department of Justice.

To ensure an orderly meeting, I would like to outline the usual rules. Members and witnesses may speak in the official language of their choice. Interpretation services in English, French and Inuktitut are available for the first part of today's meeting. Please be patient with the interpretation. There may be a delay. For those in the video conference, the interpretation button is found at the bottom of your screen. It's the interpretation globe, and you can listen in English, French or Inuktitut, if you choose. If interpretation is lost, please inform me immediately and we will ensure interpretation is properly restored before we continue.

Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. If you are on the video conference, please click on the microphone icon to unmute yourself. For those in the room, of course, your microphone is controlled by the proceedings and verification officer. When speaking please speak slowly and clearly, and when you're not speaking, please put your mike on mute. This is a reminder that all comments should be addressed through the chair.

We're going to launch immediately into questions. We'll have six minutes for each of the four parties.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe, Mr. Vidal, you will be starting as the first speaker for six minutes. Please go ahead.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

It doesn't spell it out. I encourage people who know what changes they may wish to make to Bill C-29 to go through that process that's described in the email as quickly as possible, so that they can be looked at, we can find out if they're allowable and in which form they will be, and then they can be translated and distributed.

That's the process. Is that okay?

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

I want to be clear, Mr. Chairman. All I'm looking for is the amended version of Bill C-29. That's all I'm looking for.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

I don't think we're going to get them before Thursday. Remember that they have to be bilingual, and the inputs will come over the course of the next few weeks. If you're talking about potential changes to Bill C-29, we didn't decide when those had to come.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

[Inaudible—Editor] on Bill C-29. We can have that forwarded.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Right, but he's also confirming that we will get the proposed changes to Bill C-29 that may be coming up to the members—

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

That's great. Thank you.

Finally, Mr. Chair, through you to the clerk, if we could have the amended and adopted Bill C-29 forwarded to the members so that we can be prepared, that would be wonderful.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

The second question I would have, Mr. Chair, is with respect to Bill C-29. I'm assuming that the names of witnesses are to be submitted by October 5, which is this Wednesday.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

The ministers will be asked to be here on Thursday in connection with Bill C-29. It's the normal thing to invite the sponsoring ministers.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

I have a suggestion.

We said we wanted to start off with Bill C-29 this Thursday. That would probably be with the ministers coming. It's up to the committee to decide whether we might want to reserve 20 minutes at the end of that meeting to look at drafting instructions, so that the old gang from the Conservative Party—

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

On that question, given the fact that last week we agreed among ourselves, with a couple of amendments, to focus priority on Bill C-29, that will take us to October 28 for the last session. Then, of course, we have to follow that up by doing clause-by-clause consideration in an expeditious manner, so we're into early November.

I would just add that I mentioned two other things that we need to revisit. One is the updated NIHB report, which the analysts are going to update, given the amendments, new resolutions and new recommendations that we proposed. Also, at some point—this Thursday, for example—we were going to look at future studies. The drafting instructions for this study are important as well.

In the coming days and weeks we should decide what should come right after Bill C-29. Should it be how quickly we want to do one of the three? Which of the three should we do, and in which order? Should it be the drafting instructions, the NIHB report or deciding on future studies, and in what order?

Mr. Schmale, go ahead.

Indigenous Affairs

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations]

Mr. Speaker, reconciliation is not easy. It is neither linear nor free, but we are determined to right past wrongs and address their impact on indigenous peoples, an impact that is still felt today.

Tomorrow, we encourage all Canadians to reflect, to listen and to show compassion for indigenous voices. Tomorrow is a day for residential school survivors and indigenous communities and leaders to have their say.

Bill C‑29 will respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action 53 to 56, while also promoting the implementation and independent review of the 94 calls to action.

National Council for Reconciliation Act

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

moved:

That, notwithstanding any standing order or usual practice of the House, the motion for second reading of Bill C-29, An Act to provide for the establishment of a national council for reconciliation, be deemed adopted on division, deemed read a second time and referred to the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs.