Mr. Chair, distinguished members of the subcommittee,
I would like to thank the committee for giving me this opportunity to provide you with opening remarks on aboriginal consultation and accommodation.
The Government of Canada consults Canadians on issues of interest and concern for them. Consultation is an important part of good governance, relevant policy development and informed decision-making.
In addition to those good governance objectives, the government also has an obligation to consult aboriginal groups when it comes to its common law obligations.
As stated by the Supreme Court of Canada in the Haida Taku River decisions in 2004, the Crown has a legal duty to consult, and if appropriate, accommodate, when contemplating conduct that might adversely impact potential or established section 35 or treaty rights. It's important also to take into account that this duty to consult applied to the Crown, which in this case means that it applies to the federal, provincial, and territorial governments.
In this context, individual government departments have to assess how their contemplated activities may adversely impact potential or established aboriginal or treaty rights, and who should be participating in the consultation. Government departments can, where appropriate, use and rely on existing mechanisms, such as environmental assessments or regulatory approval processes to gather relevant information and address aboriginal issues.
At Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, our role is to provide support and tools to government departments and agencies to assist them in fulfilling their consultation obligation. For this purpose, the department established a consultation and accommodation unit and has undertaken the following activities.
We have engaged with aboriginal groups—more than 65 aboriginal groups in provinces, industries, and companies. We launched an aboriginal treaty rights information system for federal officials to better identify the location of aboriginal and treaty rights. We released guidelines, interim guidelines, in 2008, and new interim guidelines in 2011. We trained over and above around 2,000 federal officials. We took steps to better integrate consultation into government day-to-day activities.
Building on these achievements, the responsible resource development is further enhancing the consultation activities with aboriginal groups through different elements. First, we are integrating aboriginal consultation into the new environmental assessment and regulatory process. This will be supported for each major project review by designating a lead department or agency, and a single Crown consultation coordinator to facilitate the relationship with first nations.
Second, we are providing funding specifically to support consultations with aboriginal groups to ensure their rights and interests are respected, as indicated in budget 2012.
Third, we are negotiating consultation protocols and agreements with aboriginal groups to establish, more clearly, the expectations and level of consultation that should be established. This will help to address the concerns of aboriginal groups about duplication of processes resulting in consultation fatigue.
Fourth, we are negotiating a memorandum of understanding with the provinces and territories to align federal and provincial territorial processes to improve involvement of aboriginal people.
In closing, I believe that these measures will ensure that aboriginal groups participate—from beginning to end—in environmental assessment and regulatory licence issuance processes, and that their potential or established ancestral rights from treaties are taken into consideration more when decisions are being made.
Thank you.