Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank you for travelling here. I think it's really important that committee members get to hear that things are different in this country from coast to coast to coast, and British Columbia has its own unique set of circumstances. Of course, I'm from British Columbia, so I have a bird's-eye view of that.
I want to start by saying that not only are there challenges in the treaty process, but also in the implementation, as we've seen with the Nunavut Tunngavik this week launching a lawsuit against the Government of Canada for breach of contract because of the lack of implementation that's happening in Nunavut. So not only do we have challenges in the treaty process, but we also have challenges in implementation.
I want to echo Mr. Merasty's anger, actually. As many of us have become more and more involved and have had a closer look at what's going on in this country, it is shameful that we are having to have this conversation today.
Rather than deal with some of the bigger picture, I'm actually going to deal with three specific elements in the Auditor General's report. I'll list them, and then I'd like you to respond to them.
One is in paragraph 7.47, which is talking about land. Of course, land in British Columbia, particularly for some nations.... I fail to understand why Indian and Northern Affairs does not have priority around surplus federal lands so that they're on the table for people when they're trying to negotiate treaties.
The second piece I want to deal with is in paragraph 7.5, around the duty to consult. We've had many court decisions. The Auditor General specifically cites Sparrow and Delgamuukw, but she goes on to say that although work has started in the federal government, it really has no formal mechanism in place on the duty to consult. It seems to me, no matter what the policy is, unless there is a fundamental commitment to consult on a nation-to-nation basis, we're going to continue to have these conversations.
I'd like you to comment on that.
And the third piece I'd like you to comment on is paragraph 7.73, around loans. Many first nations in British Columbia are eating away at their ability to function as a nation once a treaty is signed because of the fact that they're having to borrow substantial amounts of money. In fact, my understanding is that the way the agreement is structured right now, interest is not being paid at this point in time, but that deadline is looming where people will have to begin to pay interest.
I wonder if you could comment on those three items.