Thank you to all the witnesses. We've certainly had very important testimony on this private member's bill. I want to start by doing a quick check-in.
There is no one presenting today who would say this bill would not impact indigenous peoples. Is that accurate, that this is a bill that would...? Is that an accurate statement?
I'm not seeing anyone saying it's not accurate, so we do know that this is a bill that would have impact on indigenous peoples and indigenous communities.
Where I struggle right now is that this government and many of the members here are committed to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. I want to read an article from it. Article 19 of the UN declaration reads:
States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.
As I look at this private member's bill, and I know there is a commitment by the current government to implement the UN declaration, how can we move forward with this when clearly they have not lived up to that standard in article 19 of the UN declaration?
Perhaps I could start with Ms. Gue.