Thank you.
What does this mean in the context of this act? It means that we need a better process, one that is designed with first nations and one that involves us from the very start.
We already have many examples of practical, co-operative jurisdictions being effectively and efficiently exercised, joint decision-making in our agreements in the modern treaty context, and an example such as the Arctic Council. This kind of process and robust dialogue is essential and possible within this bill.
The CEAA expert panel recommended a process for impact assessment that incorporated first nations as governments and decision-makers at all stages of the process in accordance with their own laws, customs, and required consent before a project could be approved.
It is important to understand that we are considering what the legislation actually said and requires, not what the current government describes as the spirit of the act, which it will implement through policy.
For first nations, laws must be written in anticipation of future governments that may be hostile to our rights, jurisdiction, and authority. In this context, legislation must constrain and/or require those governments to respect what has already been written in legislation. For example, in our submission to this committee, we begin to outline some of our suggested amendments to ensure that ministerial discretion, of which there is plenty, does not infringe on first nations' inherent and constitutionally protected rights, but rather moves us forward towards the new co-operative, respectful, jurisdictional arrangements consistent with our agreements, treaties, and rights.
Finally, I'd like to focus on three areas of amendments that are intended to strengthen the modest reforms that have been tabled by the government in this part of Bill C-69. More detail on our suggested amendments can be found in the submission. These include, first, protection of first nations' inherent and constitutionally protected rights; second, full inclusion and protection of indigenous knowledge systems; and third, full decision-making with first nations governing authorities.
Protection of section 35 rights, the inclusion [Technical difficulty—Editor]