Bill C-45

An Act to amend the First Nations Fiscal Management Act, to make consequential amendments to other Acts, and to make a clarification relating to another Act

This enactment amends the First Nations Fiscal Management Act to expand and modernize the mandates of the First Nations Tax Commission and the First Nations Financial Management Board in order to better reflect their current and future activities.
The enactment also establishes a First Nations Infrastructure Institute that will provide First Nations and other interested Indigenous groups and organizations with tools and support, including with respect to best practices, to implement and manage their infrastructure. It also provides First Nations named in the schedule to the First Nations Fiscal Management Act with the power to make laws to regulate services provided by or on behalf of the First Nations.
The enactment also aims to improve the functioning of that Act, including by integrating the content of the Financing Secured by Other Revenues Regulations , by combining into a single fund the debt reserve fund for financing secured by property tax revenues and the debt reserve fund for financing secured by other revenues and by simplifying the way certain Indigenous groups participate in pooled-borrowing.
Finally, the enactment makes consequential amendments to the Access to Information Act and to the Privacy Act and includes a clarification that addresses a transitional administrative oversight that followed the establishment in 2019 of the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs and the Department of Indigenous Services.

[Ernie Daniels, President and Chief Executive Officer, First Nations Finance Authority]

Thank you, Chair.

My name is Ernie Daniels and I am the president and CEO of the First Nations Finance Authority. I am a member of the Salt River First Nation in the Northwest Territories.

I'd like to thank Leane Walsh and her team at CIRNAC, the First Nations Tax Commission and the First Nations Fiscal Management Board for working collaboratively on these amendments to the First Nations Fiscal Management Act, or FMA, over the last several years.

The First Nations Finance Authority, or FNFA, is a non-profit organization whose mandate is to provide financing, investment and advisory services to those first nation governments across Canada that voluntarily schedule to the FMA.

The FNFA board is elected annually from the member first nations. The FMA received royal assent in 2005 with all-party support, and the FNFA has been providing services to first nations governments across Canada ever since.

To date, 342 first nations have been scheduled to the FMA, and FNFA has loaned over $1.8 billion in financing to its membership of 151 first nations through nine provinces and the Northwest Territories. This has resulted in the creation of over 20,000 jobs and an economic output of $4 billion, which demonstrates that we are stronger together.

However, certain economic and social needs of our member communities can only be met through amendments to our act.

The FNFA strongly supports Bill C-45 in principle. It brings significant positive change that will lead to enhanced opportunities for first nations and indigenous governments across Canada. For example, the financing secured by other revenues regulations will be incorporated directly into the FMA. Bringing the provisions about other revenues directly into the FMA will result in a comprehensive FMA that is much easier to follow.

Another example is that the definition of “borrowing member” is expanded in anticipation of eligibility being expanded to indigenous governments and non-profit organizations through other regulations that will still be required. These important entities provide essential economic and social services to first nations.

The proposed amendments will have significant positive impacts for first nations.

Thank you and mahsi cho for your time and consideration.

[Clarence T., Manny) Jules (Chief Commissioner, First Nations Tax Commission]

Members of the committee, good afternoon.

My name is Manny Jules. I am the chief commissioner of the First Nations Tax Commission. It is one of the three institutions created by the First Nations Fiscal Management Act, better known as the FMA. I was also chief of my community, the Kamloops Indian Band, from the years 1984 to 2000.

Thank you for this opportunity to appear before this committee and to speak in support of Bill C-45.

Canadian history has shown that practical proposals to increase our self-determination and to implement economic reconciliation move slowly unless we design and lead the changes.

The proposals are optional. First nation institutions support their implementation. I know this first-hand, as I've spent most of my adult life working on proposals to renew the fiscal means for our self-determination. These include the Kamloops amendment to the Indian Act in 1988, which gave first nations the ability to generate wealth from lands leased on designated lands; the creation of the First Nations Gazette in 1997, which supports the legal voice of first nations; the first nations sales tax in 1998; and the passage of the FMA in the year 2005. In each case, I worked to ensure that we had all-party support.

Twenty years ago, in June of 2003, I appeared before this committee in support of the original FMA. I spoke about how the FMA gave us hope for a better future by giving us more fiscal powers, by supporting faster implementation of our jurisdictions and by raising our credit rating. Since that time, I am proud to say we have turned that hope into trust, and we have delivered on that promise.

The FMA first nations have realized billions of dollars in investment, and the assessed value of reserve lands now exceeds $15 billion. Thousands of FMA laws have been passed, and 150 first nation administrators have graduated from the Tulo Centre of Indigenous Economics.

Perhaps more importantly, with the success of the FMA, we have created a formula to speed up the process of self-determination and of economic reconciliation: pass federal legislation to open up the jurisdictional space for interested first nations; occupy that space with our own laws, if first nations are interested, to fully respect their right to self-determination; and support first nations who opt in with first nation institutions, standards and accredited training to increase the benefits.

Bill C-45 is the next step in this process, and it reflects what we have heard from the FMA first nations. We need our own infrastructure institute. We need to expand our fiscal powers. We need to take control of our fiscal information, and we need to expand our capacity to support within the Tulo Centre of Indigenous Economics.

These amendments reflect what the FMA institutions told this committee in 2022 as part of your study on barriers to economic development. They were also recommendations in the committee's report to the House of Commons.

The FMA is the most successful first nation-led legislation in Canadian history, with more than half of all first nations using this act. We now know that with these improvements the number is only going to grow. We have moved beyond simply recognizing first nation rights to implementing first nation jurisdiction.

Working together, with the support of all parties in Parliament, the FMA institutions and first nations have provided an optional legislative path to complete one part of the unfinished business of Canada: to find a place for first nation governments in the federation and in the economy.

Our work will continue down that legislative path, for example with the development of a first nations resource charge to ensure we benefit from resource revenues derived from our lands. Another example would be the creation of a first nations assessment authority, which would provide an accessible and reliable institution for the valuation of first nation lands.

All-party support for these amendments will demonstrate Canada's commitment to our self-determination and to economic reconciliation.

I believe that the legislation is the continuation of what my father, Chief Clarence Jules, started in 1965. His words then still resonate today: We must be able to move at the speed of business.

Your support for these amendments demonstrates that my ancestors were right when they wrote in a letter to the prime minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, in 1910, that by working together we can make each other “great and good”.

Thank you very much.

[Allan Claxton, Development Board Chair, First Nations Infrastructure Institute]

Mr. Chair and members of the committee, good afternoon.

My name is Allan Claxton. I am chair of the First Nations Infrastructure Institute's development board. I was formerly chief of my nation for 20 years. I'm on council now, and I have been on council for 10 years. I've spent a lot of my life in politics, working for my nation.

High-quality public infrastructure is important for the health and sustainability of our communities. As I said earlier, I've been involved in my community for over 30 years. I have seen and understand the challenges to develop infrastructure projects. We just completed a couple last year, including a modern bighouse, with a state-of-the-art kitchen attached to it. We also upgraded a road with paving, sidewalks and lighting. We are proud of that, but we still have many more infrastructure needs in our community, like all the other first nations in the country.

Community infrastructure is more than a collection of buildings and the roads that connect them. These are places of learning, belonging, sustainment and healing.

The problems with the current first nation infrastructure systems are well known. Infrastructure on reserves takes too long to develop, costs to much to build and does not last long enough because it's not built up to the proper standards. This contributes to a series of poor health, social and economic outcomes.

We are proposing to establish the First Nations Infrastructure Institute—otherwise known as FNII—to tackle these problems. We are proposing to establish the First Nations Infrastructure Institute to join the FNFA, FNTC and the FMB, the three institutions created by the FMA.

FNII has been designed to build on the successes of the FMA model. It will also be optional to all first nations.

The first nations and indigenous organizations that choose to work with FNII will be able to use standardized best practices to plan, procure, own and manage their infrastructure projects. We know that infrastructure needs are great. We have been talking to first nations across the country about their proposed projects.

Jason and I have been doing a lot of travelling to a lot of communities across the country. We know that there are many projects that nations have in mind, including water and wastewater systems, roads, internet connectivity, recreation centres and health centres. That's just the tip of the iceberg.

These projects support and serve both members who live on our lands and non-members who may be residents living or working on our lands. That's a good example of my community. We have 10 trailer parks and two RV parks in my community. We know that development of these projects will benefit not only our community but the regional economy as well.

We believe that working with FNII will support first nations and indigenous groups in advancing their projects. Our goal is to assist nations to develop infrastructure in a better and more sustainable way than the current approach.

I thank you for the opportunity to present these amendments. We are asking for your support to move ahead with the proposed amendments to the First Nations Fiscal Management Act in Bill C-45.

Hych’ka Siem. Thank you very much.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Jamie Schmale]

Good afternoon. I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to the 61st meeting of the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs. We recognize that we meet on the unceded territory of the Algonquin and Anishinabe peoples.

Our meeting today will be in a hybrid format, according to the order adopted in the House on Thursday, June 23, 2022. Members may be present in person or on Zoom. The proceedings will then be published on the House of Commons website. Just as a note, the webcast will show the person who is speaking and not the entire committee.

For those participating remotely, I would like to outline a few rules to follow.

You may speak in the official language of your choice. Interpretation services are available for this meeting in French, English and Inuktitut. You have the choice at the bottom of your screen of floor, English or French audio. Please select your language now. If interpretation is lost, please inform me immediately and we will ensure that interpretation is properly restored before resuming the proceedings.

For members participating in person, proceed as you would normally do when the whole committee is meeting. Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. If you are on the video conference screen, please click on the microphone icon to unmute yourself. For those in the room, your microphone will be controlled as normal by the proceedings and verification officer. Please address all comments through the chair. When speaking, please speak slowly—not like I'm doing right now—and clearly, and when you're not speaking your mike should be on mute.

With regard to a speaking list, the committee clerk and I will do the best we can to maintain a consolidated order of speaking for all members, whether they are participating remotely or in person.

We now move on to the committee. With the motion adopted by the committee on April 19, 2023, the committee is now commencing its study of the subject matter of Bill C-45, an act to amend the First Nations Fiscal Management Act.

Today we welcome our witnesses. We have Harold Calla and Grant Christoff, executive chair and general counsel respectively, from the First Nations Financial Management Board. We have Allan Claxton and Jason Calla, development board chair and technical team, from First Nations Infrastructure Institute. We have Manny Jules and Marie Potvin, commissioner and legal counsel respectively, from the First Nations Tax Commission; and Ernie Daniels, president and CEO of the First Nations Finance Authority.

Thank you everyone for being here today. We look forward to your testimony.

Since we have Harold and Grant up first, we will start with them.

Please, you have five minutes.

First Nations Fiscal Management Act

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

moved for leave to introduce Bill C‑45, An Act to amend the First Nations Fiscal Management Act, to make consequential amendments to other Acts, and to make a clarification relating to another Act.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)