Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Feb. 12th, 2009

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

We're finished here, Ms. Crowder. Thank you.

We'll now go to Mr. Payne.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I appreciate you and your staff coming today, Ms. Nabigon. I have a couple of questions. First of all, maybe you could outline for us the goals of the commission and how they will promote reconciliation, and then I'll ask my next question.

[Aideen Nabigon]

The goal of the TRC is to lay the foundation for reconciliation. I doubt reconciliation will have been achieved within the short five-year mandate that we'll be in existence. Reconciliation will be a long-term and ongoing process, but as I mentioned, at the end of the five-year period for our mandate, we hope that we'll have heard from all former students or as many former students as we possibly can and that people will have listened, that other Canadians will have listened, and that through that process of hearing storytelling and having people actively listening and hearing what went on at residential schools and about the legacy that resulted in those residential schools, there will be a beginning of reconciliation.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Thank you.

Just in terms of the Canadian people hearing that, is there a process that you intend to have the commission go through to get that information out to Canadians so that they will understand what was going on in the past history?

[Aideen Nabigon]

Yes. Hopefully, everybody who possibly can fit into the seven national events will participate. There'll be a report. As someone has mentioned already, at the end of two years we'll have to do a report that will make recommendations to the parties.

In addition to the seven national events, we'll have community events. We're hoping that not just aboriginal communities but neighbouring communities will participate in those activities as well, and that people will start to engage and listen to each other. The truth will be told. Through that, I hope, we'll achieve reconciliation.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Thank you. That actually leads me to the next question.

In terms of the seven events, has it been determined at this point where those locations are going to be?

[Aideen Nabigon]

No. We've been working on the framework for holding the events, but we're holding off on setting a date and a location until we have a chaired commission in place.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Okay. Just in terms of the overall events and the funding, I believe it's $60 million for this?

[Aideen Nabigon]

Yes.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

My next question is whether there is going to be sufficient funding to hold these events as well as attend other communities.

[Aideen Nabigon]

Again, as to whether or not we have sufficient funding, I think that will have to be assessed once the new commission is in place, because of the fact that by that point, if indeed it takes until June, we'll have lost a year.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Thank you.

Do you have anything?

[John Duncan, Conservative, Vancouver Island North, BC]

Yes. Just to follow up on that, the way I view this, you haven't actually lost a year, because during this timeframe you've had a lot of opportunity as an administration to set a lot of things in place. For example, you have your survivor committee virtually picked. You've set up your offices. In your presentation, you went through a whole list of things that you've accomplished.

So my question really is this: it is still conceivable, is it not, that the five-year timeframe is quite possibly enough time to do the job?

[Aideen Nabigon]

Yes. If we're told to do it within the existing mandate and the existing funding, we'll do it.

There are a couple of things there. One is related to money and the fact that we'll have to keep the walls up for an extra year, and there will be overhead, rent, salaries for our employees, and that kind of thing. But there's also the fact that under the settlement agreement, survivors were provided with a five-year mandate in which to tell their stories. I think that's something that will also have to be assessed.

As people have mentioned, survivors are still waiting for things to begin. We've done outreach to the extent that we can, but they're waiting to hear from commissioners. We'll have to make an assessment as to whether the expectation is that we'll continue for five years, starting from the date of the new commission.

[John Duncan, Conservative, Vancouver Island North, BC]

Do I have more time?

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Yes.

[John Duncan, Conservative, Vancouver Island North, BC]

In your statement today you reference on page 3 the final report that the commission will produce, and we heard from Mr. Murphy about the two-year report, which is quite separate and apart. Will there be interim reports leading up to your final report?

[Aideen Nabigon]

Yes. Actually, under the settlement agreement there is only a requirement for an interim report at the two-year mark. I would expect that the commission will want to have some sort of final report, but the settlement agreement only requires an interim report.

[John Duncan, Conservative, Vancouver Island North, BC]

On these hearings, they're described as being “safe” and “respectful” and held in a “culturally appropriate manner”. They can be done “one-on-one...in a written statement or in a group setting”. Are those publicly accessible in any way?

[Aideen Nabigon]

Just to be clear, it's not a criminal tribunal, and as such we won't be doing hearings. What I was referring to was the statement gatherings, the opportunities for survivors to tell their stories, and as part of that, for other Canadians to hear them. It will be entirely up to the individual survivor.

I've been to gatherings of 500 survivors where there's no end of survivors who'd like to get up to tell their stories. They want people to know what happened to them. Those opportunities will exist through community events and national events. Other survivors will be telling their stories for the first time. We want to provide them with all the privacy they need. It could be the survivor and a statement taker. We'll have an opportunity for them to do it in writing without anybody present. They could just mail it in to us if they're not comfortable with having somebody present.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Thank you, Mr. Duncan.

For the second round, we will restrict ourselves to three minutes, and we will begin with Mr. Murphy.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

I'll speak very quickly.

It seems to me that a lot of the issue of delay has to do with the commissioners named. It might have something to do with severance or their wanting to stay on longer. The concern is not germane to your job, but you did say that they would be useful in terms of overlap or transition. You said, in part in response to Mr. Duncan's question, or it might have been Mr. Payne's question, “if it takes until June” to get new commissioners.... Has there been discussion between you and Minister Strahl or officials at INAC of appointments of new commissioners before June?

[Aideen Nabigon]

No, I'm being optimistic.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Okay. I'm sorry to hang on your words, but it's pretty much all we have, and I appreciate it. I think you said you would reasonably anticipate the work to take five years from the appointment of the new commissioners.

[Aideen Nabigon]

Yes.