Mr. John Dempsey (Director, Policy, Indian Oil and Gas Canada, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development) at the Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee

Perhaps I could add some clarity to that.

We've been having consultations with first nations, as you heard, for about 10 years now. One of the overriding concerns we've heard from each and every first nation throughout this process has been this: don't change the fiduciary relationship; don't try to offload your responsibilities to the provinces. We keep hearing that over and over, and we've tried to craft a bill here that respects that preference of first nations.

This proposed change, in our view, would change that fiduciary obligation. It would shift it from Canada to a first nation, as they'd be making the decision to cancel a lease or to direct the minister to do so. They would still have some sort of obligation that would shift from Canada to them as a first nation.

So from our perspective, the great majority of first nations across Canada haven't asked for that. In fact, they've told us just the opposite: they don't want it.