Bill C-61

First Nations Clean Water Act

An Act respecting water, source water, drinking water, wastewater and related infrastructure on First Nation lands

This enactment affirms that the inherent right to self-government, recognized and affirmed by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 , includes the jurisdiction of First Nations in relation to water, source water, drinking water, wastewater and related infrastructure on, in and under First Nation lands. It sets out principles, such as substantive equality, to guide the provision for First Nations of clean and safe drinking water and the effective treatment and disposal of wastewater on First Nation lands. It provides for minimum standards for water quality and quantity and wastewater effluent. It also provides pathways to facilitate source water protection.

Reference to Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the words from the member opposite. We did have a good working relationship on Bill C-61. I thought there was a lot of good discussion as we moved through that piece of legislation. It was good to see the member come from a different committee and add a bit of a different perspective. That is always appreciated.

In terms of his question, I think, overall, competitiveness is lacking in this country. If we look at where investment is and where it is not, that becomes very clear. We continue to have more lumber mills in British Columbia start to close, and small towns being deeply affected by the mills closing. We have indigenous communities that have interests in lumber mills that are not able to move their product because of the competitiveness, the lack of a softwood lumber agreement. It goes on to oil and gas, to mining and so on. This country is just not as competitive. It is unfortunate, because we have the resources to do that.

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I recently had a chance to substitute onto the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs for the study of Bill C-61 and I appreciated sitting with the hon. member, whose interventions were quite thoughtful. In his speech, he mentioned the need to improve the competitive environment, to improve competition. That is exactly what the government did through Bill C-59. Those changes were, in many ways, aimed at increasing competition in the grocery sector.

I would like to know what the member thinks of those changes in Bill C-59. If he liked them, why did he and his party vote against it?

Indigenous Affairs

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by thanking the member for Northwest Territories for his tireless advocacy and his leadership. We introduced the first nations clean water act to ensure clean drinking water for generations to come and give first nations the tools to manage their own drinking water infrastructure.

It was shameful that, in the presence of chiefs gathered from across the country, members of the Conservative Party voted to refuse to send that bill to the Senate. They stood against us sending Bill C-61 to the Senate. Shame on them. We need to solve drinking water for generations to come.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

There is probably going to be a bit of PTSD from Bill C-61, but—

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

Thank you.

Look, Bill C-77 is a bill that was co-developed by modern treaty nations. It's something they've been asking for for over 20 years. This was truly co-developed with the full involvement of all existing modern treaty nations. It is something they have been asking for from the government for the last number of months as we finalized it. We tabled the legislation earlier in the fall.

I appreciate that notwithstanding the deadlock, it seems, in Parliament, the people at this table were able to work across partisan lines. We were able to pass Bill S-16 and Bill S-13. I want to acknowledge and thank the members for that. I think these are critical pieces of legislation, and so are Bill C-77, Bill C-61 and a range of others. We need to unlock Parliament to debate them and have constructive work done. That's why we were all elected to be here. It is transformative work. In fact, one of the challenges we have with some of the historical and numbered treaties is that there is no mechanism of the kind we could have through Bill C-77, so I implore colleagues around the table to work in collaboration. One thing I always pride myself on is being able to reach across the aisle to work with all of you here.

This is not about partisanship. Reconciliation, I've often said, is an intergenerational journey that involves all of us. No one party or government has exclusivity over it. I believe we've done a significant amount of work in that regard. Ultimately, anyone who cares about where this country is going on reconciliation needs to work with us on this.

[Jaime Battiste, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Thank you, Minister.

Last week we had lots of chiefs in town from all across Canada. I know that you made time for them. I saw Ms. Idlout, and I saw Sébastien at important meetings and functions that they were invited to on behalf of the national chief, where they were able to talk to us about some of the key things that were important to them.

I know there's a House order out there that has a few parties, led by the Conservatives. They believe they know what's best for the indigenous people, so they start telling our committee how we can best help them. I know that in those discussions you had with them, they set out some of the things that were important to them. I saw resolutions around justice. I saw resolutions about water and the need to move fast on Bill C-61. However, when indigenous members get up in the House and attempt to seek unanimous consent on something as fundamentally important as having clean and protected water for first nations communities, Conservatives shout them down before the word “water” can even come out of their mouth.

I'm wondering, Minister, if you think this study is really about helping indigenous economic development or if you think this is more that Conservatives are framing that they know what's best for indigenous people in what we should be studying here at this committee.

[Ben Carr, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Minister, I'm sure you could continue, but one of the things that it seems to me is of critical importance to economic reconciliation is making sure that water rights are respected, because, of course, when you have water rights, which therefore lead to incredibly important water infrastructure, you can improve economic development.

I couldn't help but note that during the request for unanimous consent a couple of days ago in the House for this bill, which we spent countless hours debating and passing here at committee—Bill C-61 is the one I'm referring to—it was only Conservative members who refused to give unanimous consent to expedite it. What's the impact of a further delay on Bill C-61 going to be, as a result of Conservative behaviour, on the economic development future for first nations on reserve?

Reference to Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Madam Speaker, I had the privilege of sitting with my hon. colleague on the INAN committee during the revisions of Bill C-61. Today we are not here to talk about that; we are here to talk about, certainly, the member for Edmonton Centre and what is looking like identity fraud, and about the Conservatives' using the whole situation to look like they are friends of indigenous people, when they are the farthest from that.

I would say I am deeply troubled by some of the positions the Conservatives have taken, even around the crisis and the ongoing genocide of murdered and missing indigenous women and girls, which the former prime minister, Harper, said was not even on his radar.

I find it a form of violence, the usurping of our identities, for political points. I am wondering what my honourable colleague thinks about that.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs

[Patrick Weiler, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 19th report of the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs, in relation to Bill C-61, an act respecting water, source water, drinking water, waste water and related infrastructure on first nation lands. The committee has studied the bill and has decided to report the bill back to the House with amendments.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Can I ask for a recorded vote, please?

(Bill C-61 as amended agreed to: yeas 7; nays 0)

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

At this point, I'm still not convinced that “best efforts” is the best language that we need to pass in Bill C-61, not when best efforts can still result in first nations children living in conditions with boil water advisories or sores on their skins. If “best efforts” is introduced this way, the way I interpret the honour of the Crown or try to think about how it's supposed to be implemented.... Fiduciary duty should not ever be diminished based on interpretation of contract law, and fiduciary duty should have been used in ensuring that Bill C-61 in the first place should not have fallen below UNDRIP standards, which we have been discussing all this time.

I thank the committee and the MPs for helping ensure that UNDRIP standards are much better reflected in Bill C-61, but I do caution the parties with a red flag about “best efforts” in this legislation and how it's allowing the government to pretend that it doesn't have the resources...that it has obligations to meet because of its fiduciary duty, and downgrading that to “best efforts”.

First nations, as I have repeatedly said, had authority over water. It was stolen from them, and for this Liberal government to respond with “best efforts” because of what contract law states is still a huge disrespect to first nations who will be impacted by this.

Qujannamiik.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Qujannamiik, Iksivautaq.

NDP-64 is an amendment that was submitted by the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations.

It reads that Bill C-61, in clause 27, be amended by adding after line 10 on page 16 the following:

(6) Within six months after the day on which any regulations made under subsection 19(1) come into force, the Minister must, in cooperation with First Nation governing bodies, update the framework for assessing needs referred to in subsection (1) to account for such regulations, as required.

Qujannamiik.

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

G-7 is as follows. I move that Bill C-61, in clause 27, be amended by replacing lines 7 to 10 on page 16 with the following:

(5) The Minister must complete the framework referred to in subsection (1) no later than the first anniversary of the day on which this section comes into force or the last day of any longer period requested by the Minister or First Nations governing bodies.

This offers the option of extending conversations between first nations and the Government of Canada if the prescribed timelines do not allow for the true co-development of the funding framework. This language still acknowledges the importance of setting that timeline to co-develop the funding framework but creates more flexibility for partners, which is something we heard directly from committee witnesses.

It's important to have this option available. The Government of Canada delayed introducing this bill because of the deadline set as part of the 2022 settlement agreement. There were still pieces that needed to be worked through with first nations partners.

On the day of introduction, former regional chief Glen Hare had this to say about the importance of having this flexibility:

I guess a number of us were ready to move forward on this. I hear your question but we also weren’t ready a couple of times either and we asked for an extension from the government and we got it. I’ve got to rely on our legal people too. I’m not up on our rightsholders too. They wanted some things in this document. I was disappointed a few months ago when it got delayed a second time but now we’re here today and I want to believe we can do something positive now. It’s with the support of the people, not Glen, not the Minister. But they asked for a delay and we got it and we did a lot of good work since then.

Really, it's just building in that flexibility, if they requested that time frame, so that we would be able to grant that.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

NDP-62 was provided to us as an amendment by File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribunal Council.

The amendment would be that Bill C-61, in clause 27, be amended by replacing line 33 on page 15 with the following:

(e) align with the use of up-to-date clean and sustainable tech-

Qujannamiik.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Qujannamiik, Iksivautaq.

NDP-60 was an amendment that was provided to us by the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations. They saw fit to improve Bill C-61 under clause 27 by replacing lines 22 to 25 on page 15 with the following:

(3) The Minister’s funding allocation decisions under subsection (1) must be consistent with the principle that the funding for First Nations water services is to

Qujannamiik.