Evidence of meeting #35 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 39th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was negotiations.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Executive Director, Federal Treaty Negotiation Office, British Columbia, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Do you mean the B.C.-wide mandate from cabinet?
Executive Director, Federal Treaty Negotiation Office, British Columbia, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Cabinet mandates are confidential.
NDP
NDP
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
With reference to the 47 treaty tables at which you're assessing the resources--and I asked this question yesterday--I want to know how you make the determination that some nations will have resources withdrawn.
Executive Director, Federal Treaty Negotiation Office, British Columbia, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
We are negotiating at 47 tables; some are active and some are not. Canada will send representatives to any table that's active. Clearly, we want productive negotiations; this is all about results and getting treaties. We assess progress in negotiations on an ongoing basis. We allocate our resources to areas where they can be most productive and to tables that are making progress.
There are many reasons that some tables are more productive or less productive. Certainly one of those reasons might be that the groups have divergent views or divergent visions on certain key elements, but there are other reasons. In some cases the first nation will take a break to do internal consultation or to do more research in order to prepare for negotiations. In other cases the British Columbia government has stepped away from the table to consult on its mandates, and so on. There are many reasons some tables are more active or more productive, but we're about getting results.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Claims and Indian Government, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
I should add that the funding to first nations is not coming from our department; it's coming from the BCTC, from the commission. Even if we have an inactive table, the commission may decide--because it's their prerogative--to provide funding to the first nation, even if we have no negotiation. It is not the department that is providing the funding. We do not decrease, for example, the level of funding to a community depending on the state of the table, because it's not our decision.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Colin Mayes
Thank you.
With regard to the submission that was made yesterday on the B.C. treaty process, do all the committee members have a copy of that submission?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Colin Mayes
I would ask the clerk to supply that to you.
Mr. Goldie, I have a question with regard to local government. The Province of British Columbia has recognized local government as a level of government. Are they sitting at the table on these treaty negotiations also? The outcomes of these treaties do especially affect communities that have reserve lands within their boundaries.
Executive Director, Federal Treaty Negotiation Office, British Columbia, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Thank you for the question.
It's the policy of the British Columbia government to include local government representatives as part of their negotiating team.
Conservative
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
Mr. Chair, I just want to respond to a point that Mr. Lévesque made in answer to a previous statement of mine.
I did not indicate I was happy with the speed at which the negotiations have gone or treaties have been signed; I said I was happy with the optimism of our negotiators that there's momentum and that we would continue to be able to finalize additional ones. I hope that a year from now, or two years or five years from now, we'll all be able to share the results of the faith they have in that momentum. So I want to make that clear.
We all want them to move more quickly. I don't think anyone—
Bloc
Yvon Lévesque Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Does that mean you're as pessimistic as I am?
Conservative
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
I'm saying I'm very optimistic about the momentum that is currently there. I'm disappointed that the momentum has taken this long to build, but with momentum, hopefully there will be.... We said there were three treaties initialled this past year.
Maybe I could ask, what is the mood within the communities where these have been initialled? Would you say there's a 99% chance they'll be ratified?
Executive Director, Federal Treaty Negotiation Office, British Columbia, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
I would hesitate to place bets or to give a prognosis. What I can say is that in each case the first nations have very active internal communications processes to inform their members about the contents of the treaty; they're holding many, many meetings. There is a tripartite ratification committee in each case to promote ratification of the treaty. That's something the parties commit to as part of the treaty, to work to support ratification.
We'll have to wait to see what happens and what the communities decide.
Conservative
Conservative
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
Okay. Back to page 11 of your deck, Mr. Goldie, there's a comment there that jurisdictional gaps are eliminated, and then you go on to say that federal and provincial laws apply and take priority, except in defined areas internal to first nations government and integral to their culture.
I'm just wondering how that's arrived at. It would probably have to be on a case-by-case basis, but I have some concerns, especially in light of the fact that we're currently speaking of repealing section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Could you just talk about that briefly and some of the challenges facing us there, in terms of what individual cultural elements are we prepared to allow to continue if they're in conflict with federal and provincial laws?
Executive Director, Federal Treaty Negotiation Office, British Columbia, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
I guess you have to go back to the inherent right policy of 1995, which sets out different categories of jurisdiction in which Canada is prepared to negotiate first nations jurisdiction. It's a concurrent law model where federal and provincial laws continue to apply, as well as first nations laws.
It's only in the event of a conflict and the extent of that conflict that rules of priority are applied to the situation. But clearly you could have a situation where a first nation wanted to pass laws on who would be entitled to teach their language in a school and how those qualifications would be determined, and laws of that nature would take precedence, unless they were somehow in conflict with a federal and provincial law.
I'm not a lawyer, so it's a bit difficult to get into a more detailed explanation, but that's by and large how it works.
Conservative
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
Mr. Chair, there probably isn't a clear answer, but I again think it points out the dilemma of balancing the individual rights of people in first nations communities with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
