Evidence of meeting #38 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cepa.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Linda Duncan NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
She's certainly free to reference all of her materials, and she can then submit them.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
No, not right now...just hold on. I had to figure out what we were going to be able to do with your request.
Liberal
Conservative
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
Madam Chair, the last time we dealt with this, it was dealt with in the right manner because we had a francophone at the table who needed to understand the material. I totally get that.
I don't see what the harm is here at this table. All of us are English-speaking, every single one of us. Why wouldn't we allow this material to be presented? It can be translated after the fact. At this point, I feel it's really inconveniencing witnesses who spent a lot of time preparing for these meetings, and a very important review of CEPA, that the material can't be referenced here at this table. I'm very disappointed, I must say.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Thanks for those comments.
It is an unanimous decision that has to be made. I think in the previous comments we heard why it's important, so we're going to say that it's not unanimous. Therefore, we're not going to be able to have the material in front of us right now, but there's no reason why you can't reference it, and we'll see if we can access it elsewhere.
I'm sorry to start that way. We'll now go to Mr. Erasmus for 10 minutes.
We're looking forward to hearing what you have to tell us today.
Chief Bill Erasmus Regional Chief, Northwest Territories, Assembly of First Nations
Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee.
My name is Bill Erasmus. I'm the regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations for the Northwest Territories. I'm also the Dene national chief for the Northwest Territories. We're pleased to be here.
I understand you have briefing notes from our office that I'm essentially going to follow, so I will use that as my guide.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
It was not specifically your—
We're going to start the clock again. Yes, we did receive something from AFN before, which was a document outlining your position, but this is a bit different, so please proceed.
Regional Chief, Northwest Territories, Assembly of First Nations
Thank you again, Madam Chair. It's a pleasure to be here.
Our country is so vast and huge that it took me a whole day to get here yesterday, and that's why it's a pleasure to be here. I have the environment portfolio for the Assembly of First Nations; it's a national portfolio. We're actually in Ottawa meeting on these issues, so this is really timely for us. There's a first ministers' meeting that will take place early next month and we'll participate in that, so all of these issues are timely.
As I said, I'll follow my notes. We're here today to share some of our concerns related to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, as well as the consultation engagement process more generally. First nations are currently facing a number of serious environmental challenges, including the growing impacts of a changing climate and resource development, which are significantly impacting our relationship with the land, resulting in the diminished health and well-being of our people and our traditional ways of life.
Now, 10 years removed from the first review of the CEPA in 2005, unfortunately, first nations continue to face very similar, if not more severe, challenges relating to adequate consultation, financial support, technical capacity, and self-governance, all of which provide necessary tools to address environmental issues. We are encouraged by this invitation, but we would like to draw your attention to our 2005 submission on the proposed changes. Really, much of what was written then is still applicable today.
The AFN is committed to advancing the collective interests of first nations relating to protection and conservation of the environment, both nationally and internationally. These efforts must begin with the full and meaningful inclusion of first nations rights holders at both the community and regional levels. This will help position first nations as leaders and drivers of change on environmental protection and conservation.
We recognize and continue to articulate that this awareness of indigenous peoples is a first step in addressing environmental protection. Our teachings teach us to be stewards of the land, and first nations are leaders when it comes to environmental protection and conservation.
Moving forward, any discussion pertaining to environmental protection or conservation needs to be based on full respect for the constitutional, treaty, and internationally recognized inherent rights that we have as indigenous peoples. Central to any action relating to environmental protection is ensuring that each region in Canada has adequate supports to fully and meaningfully engage in all aspects of policy and legislative development. Support for first nations-led and locally driven initiatives like environmental monitoring—an example being indigenous environmental guardians—can help to improve our collective vigilance, build confidence, and serve as an economic development opportunity.
While we are encouraged by the intentions of the federal, provincial, and territorial governments to engage with indigenous peoples in discussions on a number of environment-related issues, we must do more to turn good intentions into concrete actions and investments. This must be a foremost consideration as Canada moves towards achieving its commitments domestically under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, and internationally under the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Unfortunately, to date we are not satisfied that enough has been done through engagement processes, but we continue to work with our federal counterparts to address our concerns and support the realization of a true nation-to-nation, government-to-government relationship. We recognize that this takes time. We are beginning to see new efforts and initiatives, but we also recognize that some people and governments are resistant to change and don't want to have us at the table.
We believe this is an opportunity for the federal government to take a leadership role in this regard and unite all parties in a collective and collaborative process. It is through opportunities such as this that we will build a momentum necessary to turn these challenges around, to effect change on the ground, in our communities as well as nationally and internationally.
Prime Minister Trudeau has said, “Indigenous peoples have known for thousands of years how to care for our planet. The rest of us have a lot to learn. And no time to waste.”
We welcome this opportunity for discussion. We will also give a formal submission to you before the deadline.
If there are other outstanding comments and issues that come up today, we'll also include it in that brief.
Thank you, Madam.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Thank you very much.
You're only halfway through your time, so if there's anything else you want to share with us.... You mentioned in your comments today about your 2005 submission to the changes that were made then. Do you have anything you want to share? You're saying they're applicable today. Is there anything you want to focus in on?
Regional Chief, Northwest Territories, Assembly of First Nations
The reality is that the Supreme Court of Canada says there are three sovereign jurisdictions in Canada. They include the jurisdiction indigenous peoples have, the provinces, and the federal government. The Supreme Court of Canada will tell us that they don't want to solve our issues; they don't want to be at the table with us. That's not their role. Our role is to sit down and work out what those jurisdictional issues are and to work together as governments. That's where this has to lead.
COP 22 just happened in Morocco. It just ended last week. With the huge commitment globally to have people work on these issues, I think Canada can lead. Canada can be one of the main entities that moves from the type of economy that we've been engaged in to a greener, cleaner economy. The only way we can do that is if we have discussion and dialogue and make priorities that are relevant to all of us. We can't work in isolation.
First of all, there's a jurisdictional question. We're obligated to follow the law. That's what we need to do in the first instance, and then prioritize what the items are that we really need to deal with.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
In terms of CEPA specifically, because we're actually in the review of CEPA, is there any overriding message that you want to give on the CEPA review? You're talking of a very broad perspective.
Regional Chief, Northwest Territories, Assembly of First Nations
Go back to jurisdiction. You're looking at this as a federal entity. You have to determine what other entities are out there. For example, we contest—and we proved this in court—that the lands that we live on, we have title to. We have title to a huge area in the Northwest Territories that is under contention right now. We're at a negotiating table with Canada and the territorial government developing a model that will govern that area. In the meantime, Canada assumes that they have authority, but it's not a sole authority.
How do we deal with areas like that? How do we deal with these environmental concerns on reserves, in treaty areas, where it's not so clear who has jurisdiction, whether it's a province or a federal institution?
You have to bring our people into the fold so we're making decisions now that we don't have to go back to later.
Regional Chief, Northwest Territories, Assembly of First Nations
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Next up, let's do the Retail Council of Canada.
Jason, if you would like to start, that would be great.
