Thank you very much, Chief Alexis.
Thank you, committee.
Having tagged off, I will just turn quickly to the two issues that Chief Alexis has brought forward and comment on them briefly.
The first issue is the wording of paragraph 14(1)(c). The minister says in his comfort letter that this section is meant to deal with claims relating to the reserve creation process, like the Supreme Court of Canada said in Wewaykum. The committee members at various times have said that's how you understand that as well. Your expert witness, Bryan Schwartz, has said that was the intention of the drafters. So all we're saying there is, why not make it clear? Why not use that language, so there's no possible doubt after the fact?
I know many of you might think, how can a lawyer possibly argue that this wasn't what was intended? Believe me, lawyers are willing to try any kind of argument on for size, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if a Department of Justice lawyer, three years from now or five years from now, says, “So what if the committee on aboriginal peoples thought that's what it meant? It's doesn't use those words, so they must have meant something different.”
We're saying track what everyone knows this section is meant to say. We've provided draft wording, and that can be examined, but let's do what we're intending to do and this should be an easy amendment. It shouldn't be something that takes any time at all. We're just doing what the minister says and what everyone says this section is meant to say. It would bring a lot more comfort than a comfort letter, that's for sure.
On the $150 million cap, I've had the privilege to read through the transcripts of your hearings to date, and I must compliment you on your careful analysis of this legislation. The honourable member for Winnipeg South has asked almost every witness the rhetorical question, wouldn't it free up a lot of time and resources for the government to deal with the big claims, now that we're going to be able to deal with the little claims? There's a lot of sense to that. The trouble is that's not what is happening on the ground.
Canada right now is dealing with the little claims. In B.C. last year, they dealt with about 15 or 16 little claims, some of them less than $100,000. That's good. Those are important claims in their own right. But has that freed up the time and resources of the government to deal with the big claims? Not in Okanagan's case.
In Okanagan's case, they've submitted a 70-page legal opinion, and the government's response has been that they'll pull out of negotiations, after agreeing to negotiate. The Okanagan sends in a supplementary legal opinion, and the government provides a second opinion: “No, we won't negotiate.” And there's no appeal; there's no appeal process. They can't go to the Indian Claims Commission, because that route has been shut down, and they can't go to the tribunal because of the cap.
We hear there's going to be a new process, the cabinet process, but can we get into that? Well, no, the choice is the minister's, and the minister is the one who has closed the door. So it's like Alice in Wonderland. There's jam yesterday and jam tomorrow, but never jam today. That puts Minister Strahl into the role of the Queen of Hearts, and I'm sure he doesn't want to sit in that role.
If we can either eliminate the cap and have claims paid out according to what they're worth, or have the tribunal simply look at the claim and tell the government, “It's valid, and you should go to the negotiating table”.... It's the second-best solution, but it's a whole lot better than closing every door that's available to a first nation to have its claims heard on legal principles.