Thank you very much, MP Blaikie.
There needs to be more engagement with first nations. That's the first thing I would suggest, namely that this committee find a way to engage first nations across Canada on the deeper implications of the act its invocation.
We're given five minutes. You saw that I went a little bit over my five minutes. It's not really enough time to talk about how the act can be made better. So that's my first recommendation.
The other aspects of it are for government to clearly understand that first nation rights and the things that we do stand up for are very dissimilar from what was going on with this “freedom convoy”. The Emergencies Act can't be used as a tool to suppress issues with land and water rights particularly, and any of the first nation and indigenous rights or aboriginal and treaty rights recognized under the Constitution, which also include the right to self-government. I think that definitely has to be taken into account when looking at the act and its application in the future.
I think there also needs to be a more fulsome engagement on the invocation of the act. For example, Minister Marc Miller called me the day before. There had been talk for a number of days about the act's being invoked, but the day before, he called me and said that this would be happening. To me, although I really appreciate the relationship I've built with Minister Miller, giving the national chief a heads-up the day before is not acceptable. There need to be processes in place that are definitely more fulsome than that when it comes to first nation land defenders and water defenders, in this case.
I hope that answers your question.