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

I'll answer that one.

There are many decision points right now in the Indian Oil and Gas regulations at which there is first nation consultation; there is first nation notice that goes out. But there are also a handful of areas where the government itself makes an arbitrary decision, one example being in the area of pooling.

What we've heard from first nations is that they have concerns about getting too involved in the technical decision-making side of it because of a perceived shift in the fiduciary obligations of Canada to a first nation, if it is involved in those decision points. This is something we have raised with first nations through our consultation process over the years. There have been a few suggestions for changes from first nations to involve them more, but as they have come to understand the implications of that higher-level involvement, in all cases they have pulled back their requests to Indian Oil and Gas Canada to become more involved.