Common law has developed to the extent that we even use the word “consultation”, because the courts have instructed governments that first nations must be consulted and accommodated when it comes to our aboriginal title and rights. Over 40 court cases have affirmed what the Constitution.... We are now at the 30-year anniversary of the affirmation of aboriginal title and rights, and treaty rights. What we have yet to do is to give effect to that constitutional recognition.
What's more helpful, to answer your question, is to use what is universally now, among indigenous peoples—I can say with great confidence—a newly recognized minimum acceptable standard in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, of the right to free, prior, informed consent over what takes place in our territories. But it extends beyond that to policies that we discussed at the recent crown and first nations gathering.
We have the right to have an education, particularly when we were subject to one that sought to pull out all of the knowledge we're talking about—the traditional knowledge of our people, and the language by which we would express it—and sought to attempt to take it away over seven generations in the residential schools. Now we enter a time of reconciliation when we put that back. We give effect to it by supporting indigenous young people to learn about who they are, learn about the stories, such as the one I shared about the bear and the weir on a river in my territories. We give effect to it by being able to understand how other policies, whether it's clear-cutting or other people's practices on the lands and use of resources, impact first nations.
The key here is what the declaration makes very clear, and it's what former Auditor General Sheila Fraser said after ten years and over 30 audits. The only way forward is for first nations and governments to jointly design the way forward. That means making sure that treaty rights and aboriginal title and rights are central to policies and legislation that are developed. Going forward, it must reflect, respect, and support that, and first nations must be fully engaged in that effort.
In short, it wouldn't be acceptable that just one segment is consulted, just as it's not okay for just one department of the federal government to be involved. This is really government-wide.