Evidence of meeting #76 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 place.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
I want to go back to you, Ms. Prosper. You made the statement that indigenous communities “need their own table”. How would you see that actually coming to fruition?
As an Individual
I guess what I was thinking is that I know there is already an aboriginal affairs secretariat within Parks Canada. I'm not exactly sure of its role. I am also aware of the recent change in the name of the cultural sector to include indigenous heritage. Yet it seems as though there's opportunity to populate that portion of the naming of that department. I was thinking about whether, within that, there could be the promotion or the development of a team of indigenous people who would start to wrestle with these issues and engage in these conversations that Madeleine was referring to in terms of charting a way forward so that the conversation isn't just strictly outside of the government. I think it needs to be inside as well. It's just how to have that develop to move forward together.
Conservative
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
Okay.
You started off your testimony by suggesting that yours were very high-level concepts, and you're absolutely right. This is a well-grounded committee. Ultimately, when we issue a report, we like it to have recommendations that are grounded in the evidence, that are going to move the government forward in achieving its objectives. If you had to leave us with some foundational information about what programs might be helpful, what we should be looking at, what would those be?
I have a limited period of time—
Conservative
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
—and I'm looking for a couple of ideas that are very real rather than conceptual.
As an Individual
Can I answer that in written form? Can I make a contribution afterwards?
As an Individual
I would appreciate that. I think I need to drag my brain down to earth.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Okay. That was just enough time there.
Mr. Stetski, you have three minutes.
NDP
Wayne Stetski NDP Kootenay—Columbia, BC
Thank you.
I want to follow up quickly on Mr. Bossio's question around protecting rural heritage. My riding of Kootenay—Columbia is pretty rural in nature.
Would you agree that criteria used to select heritage projects should not in any way work against rural areas being successful? I'm thinking about criteria like usage afterwards and contributions from local government. I was a mayor; I know how hard it is to come up with money. Is it possible to make sure that any contribution agreements are neutral in terms of working against rural municipalities, moving forward?
Director, Cultural Heritage Policies, Parks Canada Agency
I believe that this is work.... If that's the way that the program should be built, I think we would have to go and find out if there are barriers for rural properties in terms of being treated the same way, and then ensure that this is not the case. There are ways to do that. I would say yes.
NDP
Wayne Stetski NDP Kootenay—Columbia, BC
In terms of recognizing national historic sites from an indigenous perspective, is there an official process currently in place to do that, and do you have any recommendations for improving the process?
Director, Cultural Heritage Policies, Parks Canada Agency
The process is the one of the national historic site designation.
Maybe Norman will need to add to my comment here, but basically, a site could be a landscape. It could be an indigenous landscape. There is no restriction. It could be an archeological site as well. The notion of a national historic site is broader than just the building. It can be multiple things within that.
NDP
Wayne Stetski NDP Kootenay—Columbia, BC
That's for designations, but you're not acquiring any new sites.
Director, Cultural Heritage Policies, Parks Canada Agency
We're not acquiring sites.
NDP
Director, Cultural Heritage Policies, Parks Canada Agency
No. Well, we are administering Saoyú-?ehdacho in the Northwest Territories. That was our last acquisition. It's an indigenous landscape. It has no built heritage on the landscape. That was the last acquisition.
Manager, Heritage Designations, Parks Canada Agency
I might just add to that.
While we're not acquiring new sites at this time, there are properties that we already administer that have been designated. A really good example of that is the Ramah chert quarries up in the Torngat Mountains. That's property we already administer that has a strong indigenous heritage perspective.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
I want to thank you very much for being here today. As you can see, we're really grappling with how to make things better and how to properly respect indigenous heritage.
There were a couple of questions. One was asking if we could get what worked and what didn't work out of that CHPIF program, because we really want to understand what we can do with any recommendation there.
Concrete recommendations from you, Ms. Prosper, about what we can do to be more respectful and move that initiative forward would be extremely helpful. We're moving into the report-writing stage now, so we don't have a lot of time to get that. I know that our analysts will be anxious to get it as soon as you're able. That would be fantastic.
Again, thank you from all of us for being here and sharing your wisdom with us.
I'll suspend for a few minutes and then we will move in camera.
[Proceedings continue in camera]
