[Witness speaks in Dakelh ]
My name is Terry Teegee. I'm the Regional Chief of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations. I'm the political executive lead from the First Nations Leadership Council in regard to environmental assessment.
Considering the time constraints, I want to jump in with regard to this environmental impact assessment act, Bill C-69. First and foremost, I want to preface this discussion in regard to the comments Justin Trudeau made when he was first elected. He stated that the most important relationship that he has is with the indigenous peoples of this country.
As we go down the road in this era of reconciliation, last week, we came from a meeting where not only the Province of British Columbia but also the federal government were looking to fully implement indigenous peoples' rights and have them be recognized by the federal and provincial governments. We're in a time of reconciliation where our rights are being recognized, rather than continually going to the Supreme Court of Canada and having those rights reaffirmed and recognized.
As it relates to Bill C-69, this bill falls short in terms of recognition of the core principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of indigenous Peoples. We have great concerns in regard to the legislation, as it fails to recognize indigenous jurisdiction and decision-making.
I want to state how important first nations jurisdiction as well as the ability to make decisions are in the development of many major projects. We're seeing that played out right now as it relates to Kinder Morgan, how first nations who have made their decisions aren't being recognized in regard to the final decisions of those major projects.
While the impact assessment act and its predecessor, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012, recognize indigenous and aboriginal peoples' rights and entitlement, decision-making at all points is retained by the federal crown. This is a major point that I'm bringing up in regard to recognition of our indigenous peoples' right to make decisions.
This was brought up as part of the expert panel in regard to environmental assessment. There was a clear indication the panel stated that indigenous people need to be recognized in how final decisions are made on major projects. This bill falls far short in that regard.
It should be noted that the decision-making process needs to be recognized for indigenous peoples throughout the impact assessment act, from the preamble right to the definitions and provisions throughout the purpose of the act itself. This is quite important, especially in the age of reconciliation and the provisions for free, prior, and informed consent.
The second issue is that the provisions for indigenous-led reviews may be impossible to implement. Although the act states that there could be provisions in regard to indigenous peoples leading their own environmental assessment process, their governance may not be recognized in regard to the project of concern. Moreover, these opportunities may be lost if these first nations who want their own review process to be engaged are not properly resourced.
In my own experience, in my history as the tribal chief of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, I have had the ability to review not only one oil pipeline, but four LNG pipelines and two mining projects. In many of those cases, our indigenous people led environmental assessments of those projects. Moreover, it was quite difficult to get proper resources. More often than not, we had to use our own resources to review those projects.
The third issue is that there is a narrow approach to indigenous knowledge, traditional and ecological knowledge, as it is sometimes called. Moreover, the expert panel that reviewed it with regard to what should be brought into a new assessment act said that indigenous knowledge should be acknowledged and given the same weight as western knowledge. It's really important that our experts are indigenous peoples, such as elders and people who live off the land. It's important that those ways of knowing are given the full weight of all we acknowledge and utilize western science. It gives a different world view to these major projects and a better understanding of how our indigenous people use the land.
The fourth issue is that the core deficiencies we find in the impact assessment act are also found in the Canadian energy regulator act. There are many shortcomings in the Canadian energy regulator act in recognizing the jurisdiction and the ability for indigenous people to make decisions with regard to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and more importantly, their ability to make decisions with free, prior, and informed consent.
It's really important that throughout this whole process within the act, there should be provisions for resourcing funding for indigenous peoples, funding for elders to participate. It's really important to have a communication strategy for the indigenous peoples to fully understand some of the scientific explanations of environmental assessments.
It's very important that the free, prior, and the informed consent part of any environmental assessment be well understood. It goes both ways. The Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia need to understand the indigenous world view prior to any major project being given the green light. We're seeing that play out with the Kinder Morgan project, which had been approved by the previous Environmental Assessment Act. It was reviewed by the Liberal government, but it doesn't meet the standards for some of the first nations. This is why there is this issue over the Trans Mountain oil project.
There is going to be a question and answer session, so I'll leave it at that right now. I'm hoping I'm ending a little early. I want to thank the standing committee, the indigenous people, and the many interested parties who presented to you, to make sure that we have a fulsome impact assessment act that represents all peoples.
Mahsi cho.