Evidence of meeting #28 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was decision.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Resolution and Individual Affairs Sector, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Yes, we have been working with the friendship centre movement as well, and it's important that they receive the same information.
NDP
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
Yes, because of course they're often servicing the urban aboriginal area, where there isn't necessarily another formal organization that represents them.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Resolution and Individual Affairs Sector, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Yes, exactly, and aboriginal people in the cities would find it harder to get this information, as well.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
That finishes it off.
Are there other questions from members at this point? I have one question I would like to ask, following along on a similar line to the one Madame Crowder posed.
Is this what I heard from Monsieur Reiher: the principle that a community has the right to determine its own membership? I suppose there are treaty rights in place that would allow the same.
Can you speak to how you would reconcile the gaps or differences—or are there are any gaps or differences?—when a community imposes its own membership? Is it done, for example, with the sanction of the department? How do you reconcile a difference, if there is one, between what your registry provides and is defined in law and what the band chooses to proceed with in defining the membership question?
Senior Counsel, Operations and Programs Section, Department of Justice
Maybe I can give some clarification on what we're talking about here in terms of membership.
Since 1985, the Indian Act has allowed bands, first nations, to take over control of their membership. In order to do that, they have to ask their members for a vote, and there has to be a majority vote. Then they have to submit membership rules, adopt membership rules for that purpose. And these membership codes then apply for the determination of membership. That is all allowed by the Indian Act.
There are provisions in the Indian Act for membership for those bands that choose not to take over control of their membership. So there are two sets of rules, if you will.
What is proposed for these amendments is that membership entitlement, for those bands that have not taken over control of membership, would follow under the same rules that currently exist for these bands. With respect to the bands that have decided to take over control of membership, their own code would determine whether the new status Indian would be entitled to membership or not.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
But in the latter case, provided they followed the process that was prescribed, that in turn would be amply recognized by the act. But there's a default position if they make the choice not to proceed in that direction. The act covers them in the usual way, as prescribed by the act. Okay, I just needed to understand.
Is there another question?
Mr. Bagnell.
Liberal
Larry Bagnell Liberal Yukon, YT
I'm just following up on that same topic.
Some self-governing chiefs have argued that because there are more memberships now in their community than there are status Indians allowed by the act, their government—now that it's a government—is required to provide a number of services to its members. They're getting a lot of grief because some of these programs are transferred to those self-governing nations, but there aren't moneys transferred for the ones that are not status, of course, and so they have to provide a service to more people than they're getting money for.
Have you heard of that problem? And second of all, are you trying to grapple with it?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Resolution and Individual Affairs Sector, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
No, that would really be outside my area of expertise, and it would be more into the part of the department that's responsible for implementing the self-government agreements, Mr. Bagnell.
Just very briefly, when there is a self-government agreement, it's always accompanied by a financial agreement that supports the objectives of the new government, and so it's a process of negotiations. Really here, it's not related to the Indian Act particularly, so it becomes not something that I'm busy with.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
Okay.
Well clearly, members, this is an area we're going to have to follow very closely over the next few months to see what transpires. Members may want to revisit this, depending on how events unfold. As we've heard, we may also have some legislation in front of us, in fact, as this session proceeds.
There being no other questions or comments, I'd like to thank our two department officials for coming and helping us with this rather complex issue, and I thank members for their questions.
We will see you back on Tuesday, actually, hopefully in one of the larger rooms, either the Railway Room or Reading Room as the case may be, for presentations from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. from our newly elected aboriginal leaders.
Thank you very much. Bonne fin de semaine.