Evidence of meeting #19 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 3rd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was million.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Todd Russell
Thank you, Mr. Lévesque. You're a gentleman, sir.
We will go on to Ms. Crowder for the final five minutes.
NDP
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a couple of B.C.-related questions.
Page 15-11 talks about the B.C. treaty-related measures, and less than half the money is allocated in this fiscal year. Are you expecting a slowdown in activity in B.C. treaty processes? It goes from about $7.8 million to $3 million.
Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
I'd have to clarify exactly what that was for. Some of it may have been the accumulation of land.
No, we're actually very busy on agreements in principle and finals--
NDP
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
It's partly interim measures. It says, “...third parties for interim measures and British Columbia treaty-related measures”. You'll clarify that for me?
Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
I will clarify that, but we have a lot of very active tables, and we're close to final agreements in a number of communities.
NDP
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
That's what I thought. That's why I was surprised to see a drop of over 50%.
In a previous question around supplementary estimates (C), I raised the issue around the $30 million that was announced for post-secondary education--sorry; there was $30 million announced for education, and I wondered about what was happening with the B.C. first nations education act. The response I got didn't provide the detail. It just says “Negotiations between Canada and the negotiating first nations in British Columbia are at an advanced stage”.
As you know, that legislation was passed a number of years ago. I don't think it provides a lot of confidence for first nations if it takes several years to get the resources that you need once a piece of legislation is passed.
Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
Yes, but it also requires two parties to agree to something. Offers have been made and offers have been rejected. We have mandates that we have to stay within.
We're at the table; we would really like to settle with those nations--
NDP
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
I know there's an ongoing dispute about comparability and funding between provinces--
Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
We can't just say yes to whatever we're asked for. We have a responsibility to make reasonable offers. We've made reasonable offers. We hope that we will be able to conclude.
NDP
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
But it's the ongoing issue around comparability between provincial and federal government levels of funding. I know that there are disputes on what is included in provincial funding versus federal funding, but across the country, first nations have documented the differences between funding. In school district 79 in my own riding of Nanaimo—Cowichan, if they send their kids to the provincial school, the band itself pays more per capita than what they get funded for per capita on reserve.
There are some differences, and I know that's one of the sticking points between the B.C. first nations and the federal government.
Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
That's exactly right. There is a legitimate difference in view about what comparability means at the level of specific kids moving back and forth. It is about what is comparable and what the penalty is.
NDP
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
In some of the rural and remote communities where provincial kids are actually going to a reserve school, at one time the province was not funding back to the reserve school. Do you know if that problem has been fixed?
Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
No. I'd have to follow that up, but across the country, a very large number of kids who live on-reserve go to provincial schools, and we pay tuition. One of the ongoing issues we have with the provinces is that they set the rates. Sometimes they don't even ask us; they just change the rates and expect us to pay, so we're trying to have--
Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
The tripartite agreement allows us to have a more stable funding relationship, one in which we know what we're paying and they know what they need. That's the advantage of the tripartite. We were delighted to see language in the budget putting the money aside for an implementation tripartite agreement, which was... I think you know where that is.
NDP
Jean Crowder NDP Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC
A substantial amount of money has been allocated to cleanup of contaminated sites. There's a number on page 47, I think. There are numbers that are listed in “Accelerating Action on Contaminated Sites”. I'm looking at “South of 60” right now, on page 47.
The target is 45 assessment projects and 20 remediation projects in 2009-2010 and seven assessment projects and 24 remediation projects in 2010-2011. Do you have any sense of whether there are substantially more sites than those? These are just the numbers that you're targeting; are we dealing with larger numbers?
Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
The short answer would be yes. There are degrees of contaminated sites, ranging from the Faro mine to an old gasoline drum or fuel tank buried in the back part of a property. There are quite a range of issues. The people who deal with this try to sort them by risk and urgency. The things that are likely to contaminate groundwater get priority, and so on.
Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
We can certainly give you... I'm not sure we know everything that's out there, because we haven't surveyed every single square inch of every reserve, but we have a sense of the priority list and what's been accomplished year by year. That's another program that will sunset in 2012 and we'll have to argue for its continuation both north and south of 60.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Todd Russell
I thank all members for this afternoon.
I thank the witnesses for being with us. Mr. Wernick, it's good to see you again, and Ms. Jauvin and Mr. Robillard. I hope everybody has a good weekend.
The meeting will stand adjourned. Thank you.
