First, the committee's role is not about whether the pipelines should be there or not. Rather, it relates to making them and the marine shipping as safe as possible if they are going to be there. That is an objective everyone can agree upon. It is the kind of topic where there is real opportunity for government and indigenous nations to work together. On a highly contentious and divisive project like the TMX, there are issues on which we can find common ground.
Second, there is broad agreement that the committee is an important step in advancing reconciliation and UNDRIP in relation to the Trans Mountain pipelines. Indigenous nations have long called for more involvement in the regulation of activities on our lands. We know that we have to step up when those opportunities come along. The federal government, I think, also sees this committee in terms of reconciliation and UNDRIP, and it too has stepped up with very substantial funding and political support.
Third, it is important that the committee members do not purport to represent the aboriginal and treaty rights of the affected nations. As I have said, the federal government's consultation list has 117 nations, bands, and communities on it. I don't want to say it's impossible to form an entity that would represent all the affected nations for the purposes of their section 35 rights, but I think it is very, very unlikely, and even if possible, it would take a long time. If it were the goal to form a governing body representing section 35 rights, I very much doubt it would be formed.
That concludes my part of the oral presentation.
Thank you.