Thank you very much.
I'm hoping my voice maintains, my apologies.
On behalf of the Métis National Council president, Clément Chartier, I thank the committee for its important work and study, and for creating space for the Métis Nation in this important dialogue.
The Métis people, as you know, constitute a distinct indigenous people based in western Canada who ground their assertion and nationhood in well-respected international principles, with a shared history, culture, language, and traditional territory that spans the prairie provinces and goes into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, and the northern United States.
We have had a long legal struggle to find a place constitutionally, and a lot of political struggle to find our way into recognition under section 35, through the decision of the Manitoba Métis Federation case where the issue of relationship to land and outstanding historical grievances was before the Supreme Court. Most recently we have the decision of the Supreme Court in Daniels, which has clarified the issue of jurisdiction in terms of the Métis under section 91(24).
We have experienced significant isolation and exclusion in the absence of clarity under section 91(24). With this recent clarification it has brought us to this table to make comment on federal legislation while still having a significant bundle of outstanding grievances, including rights of authority over territory, lands, resources, and without having developed robust relationships with industry or government over the last number of years.
I was reflecting on the submissions of the Inuit recently, of their success stories. I reflected upon the success of co-management under parks, where part of that success grows out of long-standing, historical relationships, where people, together, have looked at, for example, environmental assessment over a 30-year period.
For the Métis Nation we are embarking on negotiations under section 35, and the design of what we hope to be parallel systems of engagement with the Métis Nation on environmental impact. In the absence of that, we have been looking at existing structures to see what works. Where does this particular piece of legislation create the space for what could be negotiated, and does it close doors on opportunities?
Canada has made commitments to fully implement the UN declaration on a principled basis, to address the needs of the Métis Nation, and to implement obligations under section 91(24). It has committed to protecting section 35 rights.
The bill, as it's currently proposed, lacks those commitments front and centre, not just in a preambular kind of way but in a way that decision-making mechanisms and processes could reflect and do reflect a genuine implementation of jurisdiction and authority of indigenous peoples over particular lands.
This is the context in which we have come to look at Bill C-69.
When I look, for example, at the issue of decision-making, one of the questions we had was to try to flow chart out when and where indigenous authorities would make decisions. At what point in the process is an indigenous consideration considered? It was an impossible flow chart to draft. Therefore, we recommend clarity and reconsideration around the decision-making structures.
I think that there are several triggers of the Métis in Cumberland House who are dealing with the changing water flows of the dam, and are seeing cumulative effects and buildup and saying, “What's the trigger? How do we trigger an environmental assessment on this?”
I then go to the legislation and say, “Where would that trigger be?” However, I don't see that trigger. I don't see where the inclusion of the indigenous peoples in decision-making is for determining what the effects are, whether we have done sufficient research and analysis to know the effects—is the evidence sufficiently long—what the effects are on indigenous rights, or real clarity on what the public interest test is?
I'm reminded of the recent Supreme Court of Canada comments on balancing the public interest, where they said:
The public interest and the duty to consult do not operate in conflict here. The duty to consult, being a constitutional imperative, gives rise to a special public interest that supersedes other concerns typically considered by tribunals tasked with assessing the public interest. A project authorization that breaches the constitutionally protected rights of Indigenous peoples cannot serve the public interest.
Therefore, a review of the decision-making points is important. What gets on a project list? What's on schedule 2 remains a mystery.
The other, broader lens, in terms of the promises of government and the path forward that I think indigenous peoples have felt will be an effective one, is the nation-to-nation and government-to-government approach. However, that approach is really not here either. There is a generic category of indigenous group, community, or people, but how the relationship unfolds, in terms of reconciliation moving forward, is an important consideration.
If there is a recognition of a nation-to-nation relationship, there is then, in the implementation of the legislation, a clarity on appropriate representatives, with appropriate and effective investments in capacity, which are crucial, and which need to be ongoing and substantive. For the Métis Nation, without any capacity, when you're standing still, it's a very huge job to get the momentum going.
Also important is determining effective partnerships, clarifying when consent is achieved or what mechanism is best placed to advance consent, and in that way, legal certainty, and ensuring the proper protection and use of indigenous knowledge. I use that as a broader category than traditional knowledge, in the sense that, in this country, we don't have protections for indigenous knowledge. That's left for indigenous people to manage on their own. Once it goes into the public realm, where does it go? How is it used? What is the mechanism around that? That is unclear, but perhaps subject to a guideline or a schedule yet to be determined.
I think it would also allow the indigenous peoples' expertise on sustainability to have a meaningful influence on decision-making. There are many strengths to this piece of legislation, including early engagement and other mechanisms. With a bit more focus on the indigenous peoples, I think you could have a much stronger piece of legislation that meets a lot of needs, including those of industry and more broadly, other Canadians.