Bill C-10

Commissioner for Modern Treaty Implementation Act

An Act respecting the Commissioner for Modern Treaty Implementation

This enactment provides for the appointment of a Commissioner for Modern Treaty Implementation to conduct reviews and performance audits of the activities of government institutions related to the implementation of modern treaties. It also establishes the Office of the Commissioner for Modern Treaty Implementation for the purpose of assisting the Commissioner in the fulfillment of their mandate and the exercise of their powers and the performance of their duties and functions. Finally, it makes consequential amendments to other Acts.

Commissioner for Modern Treaty Implementation Act

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora—Kiiwetinoong, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the great work of my colleague in this chamber. He has been a valuable addition to our team, and I look forward to serving with him over the course of this term and, hopefully, beyond.

I agree completely with the member's assessment of things. The commissioner would duplicate work that is already being done by the Auditor General and other officers of Parliament, as I have already alluded to. This is just more bureaucracy. It is not more accountability. The Liberal government is trying to distract from its failed record. It is time it gets to work and stops distracting.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is always a privilege to bring the voices of Chatham-Kent—Leamington to this place.

I rise today to speak to Bill C-10, an act respecting the commissioner for modern treaty implementation. While the Liberal government claims this bill would improve accountability and help with reconciliation, my Conservative colleagues and I must oppose it.

Let me very clear from the outset. Conservatives fully support treaty rights, negotiations and the ongoing process of reconciliation with Canada's first nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. We recognize the importance of advancing self-determination and self-government. This is a priority we all share. However, this bill would miss the mark. Instead of addressing the real issues, it proposes creating another layer of bureaucracy, an expensive new office here in Ottawa that would audit the government's performance and report to Parliament.

What would that really accomplish? The answer is very little, because the government already has the tools for oversight. The Office of the Auditor General conducts regular audits into treaty negotiations, modern treaties, self-governance agreements, implementation and treaty land entitlements. It has completed nearly two dozen audit reports, including six audits on indigenous treaty implementations, since 2005. These reports clearly show where the federal government has fallen short.

What the Liberal government is saying through the introduction of this bill is that it prefers to audit itself as opposed to having the independent Office of the Auditor General do the work. Why spend more taxpayer dollars at a time when Canadians are struggling with affordability, inflation and growing inflationary deficits in order to create another bureaucracy, a new one, to tell us what we already know? We do not need that. We need action.

This is not a structural failure of oversight. This is a failure of political will and leadership. The ministers and the departments that they lead are responsible for ensuring that treaty negotiations and implementation happens effectively and transparently. This is what Canadians deserve of their government. On that note, under the Conservative government led by Stephen Harper, we negotiated five modern treaties within just six years. What about the Liberals? They have been in power for nearly 10 years and have negotiated how many? They have negotiated zero.

For almost a decade, we have been bombarded with flashy announcements. The Liberals tell us they are in negotiations with 70 indigenous groups and we are supposed to believe they are doing something substantial, but here is the truth: It is nothing but a public relations exercise. These are announcements designed to impress the public, with no real outcomes. It is 10 years and there is not a single modern treaty deal.

Now, the Liberals want to create a commissioner for modern treaty implementation and present it to the Canadian public as a new office, a new title and a new bureaucracy. However, do not be fooled. This is not about achieving results; this is about avoiding scrutiny. This is not about the heart of the problem. The government does not want transparency. It does not want accountability. It wants to create another office that looks good on paper but does nothing to ensure that the indigenous communities see the benefits of real, concrete treaty implementation. It is all about appearance, not action. This is a failure, plain and simple, and it is the indigenous peoples of Canada who pay the price.

I know reconciliation is not easy and we do not claim that it will ever be so, but it does require honest, transparent communication and mutual respect between indigenous and non-indigenous communities. It requires the government to stop standing in the way with secrecy and indecision.

Let me elaborate. My riding includes the Caldwell First Nation, which, incidentally, is located within a kilometre of where I presently live, and I recently joined the first nation for its first annual competitive powwow this past August. Caldwell First Nation concluded a settlement agreement, which culminated a decades-long process. In 1998, the Liberal government reached a settlement agreement in principle with Caldwell, but never followed through. It was the Conservative government led by former prime minister Stephen Harper that returned to the table in 2006 and finalized that $105-million settlement by 2010, which was then ratified by the community.

The Caldwell First Nation officially secured reserve status in November 2020. This settlement did not hand over land directly, but set a 30-year timeline for the community to purchase properties at market value, from willing sellers to willing buyers, and then go through a federal additions-to-reserve process. This, too, is reconciliation in action: willing buyers and willing sellers working together, not a top-down Ottawa mandate.

Unfortunately, the current Liberal government is not living up to that standard of transparency or respect for local municipalities and first nations. In July of this past year, a status report on claims by the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs was provided to a neighbouring municipality that had inquired about the status of a second claim made by the Caldwell First Nation. The information presented to the public regarding the status of that claim clearly stated that the second claim was not accepted for negotiations. However, behind closed doors, it has been revealed that this claim is considered open and is actively being used in land acquisition negotiations.

It is this uncertainty that has caused tensions and concern for both Caldwell First Nation and the neighbouring municipality, which found themselves negotiating with the Government of Canada over the same piece of property. It is this type of inconsistent communication and lack of transparency that has caused first nations and neighbouring communities to have strained relationships due to misunderstandings.

When information cannot be trusted, relationships between first nations and neighbouring communities are broken, stopping the advancement of reconciliation for everyone involved. This secrecy does a disservice to all Canadians. It hinders reconciliation. It undermines the ability of indigenous communities and their neighbours to work together on the basis of mutual respect. Both first nations and non-indigenous communities require clarity to plan their futures responsibly.

This is a failing of government to do its due diligence of communicating to all parties in a treaty or settlement process. This is not something that will be fixed by adding another layer of bureaucracy within which the information has another chance to be lost, confused or misplaced from the public record.

Reconciliation cannot be forced or imposed by Ottawa. It cannot be a one-sided declaration or a hidden agenda. It requires honest, open and transparent communication by all parties: indigenous and non-indigenous communities and the federal government itself. The current government seems more interested in creating new bureaucratic offices to audit and then report on itself, rather than rolling up its sleeves and getting the job done. Reconciliation must be built on mutual respect, open communication and transparency. It requires all sides to have a seat at the table and, most importantly, to know what is on the table in the first place.

Bill C-10 would do nothing to fix these problems. It proposes yet another office, another layer and another report, all while the government continues to withhold basic information about the status of existing claims. That is not reconciliation; that is obstruction.

Let me be clear: My comments are not about opposing oversight. They are about opposing wasteful and ineffective oversight when existing tools, offices and audits are being ignored or sidelined. Bill C-10 risks spending more taxpayer dollars on bureaucrats who will audit the government's own failures without addressing the underlying issues. Rather than demanding accountability from the “Ottawa knows best” bureaucrats, the Liberals propose creating more new layers of bureaucracy and spending more money at a time when Canadians can ill afford it.

What Canadians need is political will and action. They need ministers who take responsibility and provide direction, and departments that follow through on commitments and the direction provided.

If the Liberal government is serious about reconciliation, if it truly wants to honour the treaty process, then it must stop hiding behind additional bureaucracies and start doing the hard work, and it is hard work, that these audits have already identified and that reconciliation demands.

[Jaime Battiste, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations]

Mr. Speaker, I am a little confused. I have been hearing the Conservatives talk about how many modern-day treaties they signed under Stephen Harper. On the one hand they are bragging about how many treaties they have signed, and on the other hand, they are saying that they are not going to vote for oversight or for someone to ensure that implementation and education around the modern treaties are in place.

I am wondering how it is that Conservatives can brag about the treaties, but when it comes to actually implementing those treaties and having oversight and a commissioner to do so, they vote against it, just like they voted against UNDRIP and just like they voted against clean water for first nations communities. How can the Conservatives stand up with any credibility and talk about indigenous issues?

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member. I know that his heart is in first nations communities and indeed all of Canada.

The Conservatives support accountability. They support oversight. In fact, we go through an exercise here on a daily basis at two o'clock where we hold the government to account. That is part of our democratic process.

The process of implementation and holding the government to account for the treaties negotiated should be done through the mandates instructed to the ministers. Then the House has the function, the duty, to hold the government to account for the implementation of the very treaties the government negotiates. What we do not need is another bureaucratic process where the government looks at itself.

We have the opportunity to do this right now through ministerial mandates and through the accountability mechanism right in this chamber.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on his rather nuanced speech. He says that he agrees with continuing the reconciliation process and implementing modern treaties, but that he views the commissioner position as bureaucracy.

In that case, there are two options. The commissioner could be given more of an enforcement role and more powers so that the position is not just bureaucratic. Otherwise, what mechanism does the member propose to facilitate modern treaty implementation?

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will discount the first option, because that is another unneeded layer when the mechanisms exist. As I outlined in my first response to my colleague across the way, the ministers have this authority. The Auditor General has already done the job, and I can list the six audits that have been provided.

Why can the minister not empower and direct the departments to implement? That accountability mechanism exists, and the oversight of the minister exists through the processes we go through here on a daily basis, at two o'clock every day and 11 o'clock on Fridays.

I will go with the expanded second option from my hon. colleague from the Bloc.

[Michael Guglielmin, Conservative, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

Mr. Speaker, there seems to be a theme emerging with the government, and that theme is the expansion and creation of more and more government bureaucracy.

I wonder if my colleague could highlight one more time for the House why, at a time when the Parliamentary Budget Officer has raised the alarm about the government's spending, we do not need any more government bureaucracy when the checks and balances already exist in government.

[Dave Epp, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, as I stated in my speech, we are not opposed to oversight. We are not opposed to the effective functioning of government.

We will see, on October 35, what exactly the state of our nation's finances are in. Additional spending that does not lead to meaningful outcomes for the benefit of Canadians in both indigenous and non-indigenous communities does not perform anything other than add to our inflationary debt.

What we do not need is another function that can audit without the authority to compel. Those two things, the combination of the Auditor General's office and the ministerial functions that have the authority to compel, are the two ingredients we need in order to address the shortcomings of these treaties. We are not there yet; I acknowledge that, but we have the tools. What we are missing is the political will to enact those tools.

[The Deputy Speaker, Tom Kmiec]

It is my duty pursuant to Standing Order 38 to inform the House that the questions to be raised tonight at the time of adjournment are as follows: the hon. member for Vaughan—Woodbridge, Public Safety; the hon. member for Swift Current—Grasslands—Kindersley, Public Safety; and the hon. member for Calgary Crowfoot, Housing.

[Abdelhaq Sari, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Mr. Speaker, before I begin, I would like to note that I will be sharing my time with the Member for Yukon.

Kwe kwe. Ullukkut. Taanshi.

I would like to say hello to everyone.

To begin, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge that we are gathered today on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe nation, who have been the custodians of these lands since time immemorial.

It is with deep respect and a sense of responsibility that I rise today to support Bill C‑10, which seeks to create the role of a commissioner for modern treaty implementation, an initiative that is essential to advancing reconciliation in our country.

This initiative is part of a commitment to advance reconciliation and hold the Government of Canada accountable for its relationships, objectives and obligations under modern treaties. To build a better future, we must first look back, learn from the past and acknowledge the wrongs that have marked our history.

For too long, relations between indigenous peoples and the Government of Canada have been marked by colonial and paternalistic policies that have caused harm and left a legacy of injustice. Recognizing this truth is a first step toward reconciliation. That said, reconciliation must be followed up by deliberate, sustained and adaptable measures.

Governments and associations must work in true partnership with indigenous peoples to address systemic inequalities and uphold indigenous rights. Only through meaningful change can we begin to rebuild trust and move forward together.

The Government of Canada is committed to working in partnership with indigenous peoples to advance shared priorities such as health care, food security, housing, education, economic prosperity, environmental protection, climate change and emergency management.

The importance of meaningful partnerships with indigenous peoples is also recognized in the One Canadian Economy Act, recently passed by the House of Commons. Given that indigenous peoples have been stewards of the lands and waters of Turtle Island since time immemorial, economic strategies anchored in collaboration and partnership with them will be essential to ensuring lasting prosperity for all.

We are making real progress, but there is still work to be done to strengthen our partnerships and advance reconciliation. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 calls to action are the foundation of all our work. These calls to action provide a road map for addressing systemic inequalities, supporting cultural revitalization and honouring treaty obligations, including modern treaty obligations.

By committing to the calls to action and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, we are working to ensure that indigenous peoples have the means to make decisions affecting their lands, rights and future.

Concretely and more specifically, establishing a commissioner for modern treaty implementation is consistent with action 9 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples action plan, which calls for the establishment of an independent oversight mechanism for modern treaty implementation. This is part of a broader commitment to work with indigenous partners to strengthen how treaties are upheld and implemented through better oversight, greater transparency and closer collaboration.

The commissioner would not be just an observer. They would be the embodiment of real change, one that would see Canada keep its word, deliver on promises and honour modern treaties as pillars of our democracy.

Beyond the principles, let me provide real examples of the progress that has been made, such as entering into a self-government treaty with the Whitecap Dakota First Nation. This is a decisive step toward ensuring that indigenous rights are upheld. This agreement affirms the inherent right of first nations to self-government, so they have a say in decisions affecting their communities under its self-government treaty.

This self-government treaty is really about unique self-governance. The Whitecap Dakota First Nation can continue to build on its success and improve the well-being of the community in the future. Agreements like these are transformative. They aim to improve the living conditions and livelihoods of indigenous peoples, establish an enduring framework for reconciliation agreed upon by all parties, and foster ongoing relations between the Crown and indigenous peoples.

We all know that more needs to be done to ensure that we keep our promises and commitments. The creation of a commissioner for modern treaty implementation represents a decisive step toward reconciliation between indigenous peoples and the federal government.

This measure would help advance reconciliation in three ways: by bringing to light systemic problems in modern treaty implementation; by promoting the full, effective, and timely implementation of modern treaties; and by fostering better relationships with modern treaty partners. The commissioner's work would have a ripple effect, particularly by raising public awareness of modern treaties and addressing systemic implementation issues that hinder indigenous self-government and economic development.

However, reconciliation cannot be limited to policies or institutions; it must also reside in our country's collective conscience. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada wrote the following in its final report: “Too many Canadians still do not know the history of Aboriginal peoples' contributions to Canada, or understand that by virtue of the historical and modern Treaties negotiated by our government, we are all Treaty people.”

We all have a responsibility to take action to promote reconciliation. By providing public reviews and reports to Parliament and making the treaty implementation process more efficient and transparent, the commissioner can contribute to society's commitment to education and reconciliation in general. However, awareness only goes so far. We know that the Government of Canada has not upheld some of the commitments made in modern treaties. This legislation would help address those gaps in a more specific and targeted way.

For example, some indigenous communities have had trouble accessing the resources, lands or land management promised in modern treaties. Other communities have faced delays in moving forward on essential infrastructure, education and health care initiatives. By actively overseeing modern treaty implementation, the commissioner would help address persistent systemic inequality and advance reconciliation.

Indigenous languages and cultural practices are essential to indigenous spirituality and identity, as well as to the preservation of traditional knowledge. The Government of Canada recognizes this and has already taken steps in this area, as evidenced by the passage of the Indigenous Languages Act and the appointment of the indigenous languages commissioner.

However, as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada stated in its call to action 14, the preservation, revitalization and strengthening of indigenous languages and cultures are best managed by indigenous people and communities. To that end, Canada must fulfill its commitments through effective implementation. By ensuring that Canada keeps the promises it has made under modern treaties, the commissioner would support the long-term growth and vitality of indigenous cultures and languages.

Strengthening relations with modern treaty partners through improved engagement and consultation is central to this approach. That is what we have done in developing this bill, and that is what we intend to do in the future. Once this bill is passed, the commissioner will encourage continued collaboration and consultation on the implementation of modern treaties. The commissioner will help us uphold the principle of “nothing about us without us” by recognizing the distinct experiences of first nations, Inuit, and Métis partners, including partners—

[The Deputy Speaker, Tom Kmiec]

The hon. member's time has expired. We will move on to questions and comments.

The member for Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay.

[Helena Konanz, Conservative, Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Mr. Speaker, between 2013 and 2023, federal employment surged by 36%. By contrast, the private sector grew by 13%.

How big is this new bureaucracy, this new office, going to be? How many new public sector employees does the government plan to hire?

[Abdelhaq Sari, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I think the issue is much more important than bureaucracy, but I would answer the question in the negative. It is an accountability mechanism. No, the position of commissioner will not create red tape. It will ensure that commitments are kept and that resources are used effectively and efficiently. That is what our government is aiming for.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals keep saying that they want to advance reconciliation. However, four months ago, not four years ago, they passed Bill C‑5, which deals with nation-building projects, without consulting first nations. This was criticized by the Assembly of First Nations and by Inuit and Métis communities.

Today, the Liberals are proposing Bill C‑10. They would create the position of a commissioner for modern treaty implementation without giving the commissioner any real powers. The commissioner would have no teeth. They would be able to examine the situation and make recommendations, but their hands would be tied. They would not be able to make binding recommendations.

Are the Liberals afraid of actual accountability, which would force them to face up to their unfulfilled promises to first nations?

[Abdelhaq Sari, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I will begin by answering the last part of my colleague's question. Are the Liberals scared? Obviously the answer is no.

Establishing this commissioner means establishing a mechanism for transparency and oversight. I hope that members across the way will vote in favour of establishing this commissioner. Contrary to what my colleague is saying, I think that by establishing this commissioner, the Liberals are taking their transparency responsibilities seriously and will thereby earn the trust of all Canadians, including indigenous peoples.