Thank you so much, Chair.
The government made a commitment in the last session—we voted on it in the House and it passed—to uphold the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Part of that is FPIC. That is part of the declaration itself. I'm calling on the government to uphold what it promised to do in terms of what's now a legal obligation, because it's now passed into law.
I also want to point to article 3 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which reads:
Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
Central to self-determination as affirmed in the framework is free, prior and informed consent. That is self-determination.
If the argument is that there's a commitment to uphold the UN declaration, there shouldn't be any issue with this amendment because, in fact, it supports that position of the folks who have joined us here today, including Cheri Reddin.
Thank you.