Evidence of meeting #4 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was year.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:40 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Barry Devolin
Thanks. Something the committee can discuss afterwards is whether we would like to take you up on that offer.
Mr. Lévesque, you have five minutes.
11:40 a.m.
Bloc
Yvon Lévesque Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Gentlemen, I am glad to see you because when you are here, I feel that my average salary is going up. It makes me happy. I have a very brief question for you and I would like you to answer me with a yes or a no.
Has your department studied the impact of Bill C-21?
11:40 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Not one, to my knowledge, but several legal opinions have been voiced regarding potential challenges.
11:45 a.m.
Bloc
11:45 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
They involve legal advice. Thus, I think not, because we do not usually table notices of legal advice. It is rather difficult, because there are two categories, namely Crown challenges and challenges involving aboriginal governments and institutions. Sometimes, the two get mixed up.
If I understand correctly, the committee will soon be doing a section-by-section review of the bill, and perhaps we could have more details at that time.
11:45 a.m.
Bloc
Yvon Lévesque Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
No, that's all right. We wanted to know whether you had made your own impact study before beginning the section-by-section review.
11:45 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
We have some idea, because we can evaluate the things that are covered by Canadian human rights legislation, to detect our vulnerable points. This kind of question would probably have to do with the amount of funds allocated to our programs, as compared to similar services offered provincially.
11:45 a.m.
Bloc
Yvon Lévesque Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
I would like to raise another very important point. In July, you signed an agreement in principle with the James Bay Cree.
11:45 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Yes.
11:45 a.m.
Bloc
Yvon Lévesque Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
They held a referendum, and 90% voted in favour of the memorandum.
What measures do you intend to take for implementing this? At the same time, could you also answer the question that I put to the minister regarding cleaning up the residences before implementing the agreement? In fact, we know that there were previous agreements and that you had made certain commitments, especially with regard to decent housing. Someone made a mistake in evaluation, and today, those public community buildings are uninhabitable.
What do you intend to do to correct this situation?
11:45 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
In response to your first question, quickly, we will proceed with implementation, with the approval of the communities. Funds will be allocated for the payments. That, I imagine, will be in the main estimates for the next fiscal year. There will be a bill before this committee in 2008 to amend the Cree-Naskapi [of Quebec] Act. There are several stages to the implementation, and I can provide you with a more detailed plan. The two most important ones are the initial payments and the amendments to the Cree-Naskapi [of Quebec] Act.
As for the other questions, I will have to come back with some clarifications in writing. If I remember correctly, discussions took place between the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the CMHC, and the communities regarding priorities. There were some emergency allocations, but I must admit that I do not currently have the details.
11:45 a.m.
Bloc
Marc Lemay Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Is anything planned for the Algonquin communities in Kitcisakik, in the La Vérendrye wildlife preserve, and in Winneway, in Témiscamingue, that have made repeated requests regarding reserve status or, in the case of Kitcisakik, regarding the Wanaki project?
11:45 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Nothing has been announced to date. The federal government is holding discussions with the central agencies and our colleagues regarding the community's proposal. We hope to have either a positive or a negative decision shortly.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Every time we meet with either the minister or the officials I'm impressed again with the complexity of this file. I don't mean to minimize all of the other areas that we're addressing, but the one area that ordinary Canadians are concerned about is the issue of the basic need for clean water supplies in our first nations and Inuit communities. I remember about eight or ten months ago we received a report indicating that dramatic progress had been made in terms of getting a number of our water systems up to standard. I'm interested in knowing if we are continuing to make that kind of progress.
Where are we now in terms of that?
11:50 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
One of the commitments Minister Prentice made, and I'm sure Minister Strahl will continue, is to keep Parliament up to date on progress. I will get back to him on whether we have a formal quarterly update or formal report that we can table with you.
You'll be familiar with the methodology. We use a risk methodology in terms of the systems in communities, to evaluate high, medium, and low risk, and so on. That's not the same as having a boil water advisory. You may have spring runoff and a boil water advisory. I believe the city of Vancouver had one this year. It doesn't mean your system is.... So we're trying to be more precise about the risk methodology.
Through the investments, renovating systems, and especially working on the operators and training of operators and inspection, we brought the number of high-risk systems down, in the last numbers I have, by half. We had about 200; we're now below 100, and that number is sinking fast.
There are issues about wells and cisterns, and so on, which are a little tougher to get at, but we're moving steadily with the resources we have. The strategy that was announced in 2003 will sunset in 2008. We're arguing for continued effort in future years, and hopefully there will be some decisions on that in the spring.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
Thanks.
I think one of the challenges in the past has been finding qualified people to manage these systems, and then I think another issue was retaining them once they had been trained. Are we addressing that? Is it still a big problem, or is it on the decline?
11:50 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
It's a challenge, because all the provinces have moved into strengthening water standards, after Walkerton, Prince Albert, and some of the other systems. So they're all chasing more rigorous inspection and monitoring of water systems. It is very hard to get inspectors and qualified operators.
We have training efforts. We put a lot of money into training people, and they often get a good job offer to go down the road and work for the municipality. So it is a bit of a challenge. We try to use people on circuits where they'll go out and do several first nations in an area on a regular basis.
It is an area where there's far more to it than money. The people issue is about having competent operators, the accountability to the community, the inspections, the monitoring. We're working on that, and we think there are actually some interesting solutions using remote technologies—satellite-based technologies to monitor the quality of the water coming out of the plant and so on—that offer a lot of promise in the future.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
The other point I'd like to come back to is a statement made by the minister, and hopefully you'll be able to help me understand it.
Concerning the aboriginal economic development board, certainly economic development is an area we should be focusing on. Is this a board that has representatives from all across Canada? How large of a board is it? How are these people chosen? I don't need names, just a ballpark figure.
11:50 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
It's about a dozen people. It is across the country. I think every region is represented. There are Inuit and Métis people, as well as first nations people.
The list is on the Internet. I just don't have it at hand.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
I would assume this board would hold round tables with communities that have already achieved some level of economic development success and they're sharing their best practices.
The last part of my question relates to the willingness to adopt best practices of other aboriginal communities. Is there a good buy-in? How does that work in terms of one community being willing to say, “This worked here, and here's how we could adapt this for our community and achieve similar results”?
11:50 a.m.
Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
I think spreading best practices across the country is true for all the areas we work in—education, child and family services, and so on. I guess the only thing I would say is that in my 20 months in this job I have been struck by the enormous interest in economic development among aboriginal leaders and communities. They are the ones who are out there doing the workshops and the conferences. You will remember one in Saskatchewan earlier this year. So they're taking this on, and that's exactly how results are going to happen.
What we're trying to do is create some tools for communities and partnerships with the boom in the resources sector that is going on now.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Barry Devolin
Thanks, Harold. Maybe on the next turn....
Ms. Crowder, it's your third time at bat today.