Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on March 23rd, 2010

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

On a point of order, go ahead, Mr. Duncan.

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

We have an issue on this side. We don't have the document and we have somebody quoting from it. If you're going to quote from it, we want a copy.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

He is in fact correct. The member will know that when we have documents available for committee members, particularly if you're going to refer to them, they must be circulated to committee members in both official languages. That is the rule we would like to abide by.

I would ask, Ms. Crowder, that while you may have been given a copy of this privately, you keep it separate from your arguments or from questions that you put this afternoon.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

I guess the only comment I was trying to make was that members of this committee have indicated they wanted some assurance that there was a signed document. I have a copy and can say that I have a copy of the signed document, then. I won't refer to the contents of the document.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Please, yes, unless we have it in both official languages.

In fairness, it should be available to all members of the committee if it's going to be part of our discussions.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

I understand it has been sent to the clerk, and perhaps in the interim, between the time we recess and we recommence, it can be made available to all committee members. I don't know about the ability of having it translated at short notice. I'm sure it won't be—

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

We'll investigate that option.

Go ahead.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

I want to come back to the committee members just in terms of a letter that came out from Arok Wolvengrey, and I wanted to touch on one comment in that letter. It says:

At this time of supposed reconciliation for the disastrous effects of the residential school system, language is the last great issue remaining to be addressed by the governments of this land...

I think that speaks to the importance of the First Nations University, and I'm just going to throw it open for comment at this point.

Also, did you want to have any further comment on the agreement that has been signed?

Chief.

[Chief Guy Lonechild]

I'll ask for some support, but very quickly, the Speech from the Throne talked about strengthening student support, and we believe strengthening student support also means that institutions that serve post-secondary students in this country, such as the First Nations University, are an integral part of that; and that the Indian student support programming as well as the post-secondary student support programming are a vital and important part of that.

In this way forward, I think, as a whole, we can say that the economic spinoffs from graduates, as opposed to people who are on the welfare line, speak loud and clear that we have a real concerted effort as Canadians to ensure that we move forward in strengthening opportunities as opposed to closing doors.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Ms. Myo.

[Dorothy Myo]

Thank you.

The very reason why the First Nations University of Canada—which was, I guess, first the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College—was established in the first place was to look after languages so that we could preserve and protect them and pass on the indigenous knowledge, as I said earlier. That was the vision of our elders as to why this university was so important to our young people and to future generations.

We are committed to having a first nations university that's transparent and accountable to all first nations and our neighbours, our non-first nations and first nations alike. These are the kinds of benchmarks we're setting for ourselves as a working group, to have that kind of accountability, not just financial, management, governance accountability but also our historical, our language, our cultural accountabilities that I think are a really important part of this institution.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Go ahead, Mr. Duncan, on a point of order.

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

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, we are sitting here...and I'm sorry, but we are talking about a document that is brand new. We don't know what the government approach is federally on this document. We don't have it available in French.

I'm sorry, but to perpetuate this meeting doesn't work for us. I don't think it's appropriate, and I think it's out of bounds.

So my suggestion is that in order to properly deal with something that has occurred here, the appropriate measure for this committee is to adjourn and reconvene when we've all had a chance to digest exactly what has transpired here. To continue these proceedings is simply unworkable and inappropriate.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

On the point of order, in deference to my earlier comment, I would just say that there's no procedural reason why a document that is circulated privately can't be commented on. It would be no different than someone providing a newspaper article or something one would want to quote from. And I'll get to your final question in a moment.

That said, it's recognized that this particular document that has been referred to brings a substantial element to our discussions this afternoon. I would think it only proper that whoever is the source of that document might consider providing all members with the pertinent document. However, it can't be ordered as such.

Are you moving then for adjournment, Mr. Duncan?

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

Yes, I am. I'll move to adjourn, because this is a seminal document, central to the discussion that's going on here. It's inappropriate to the extreme.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

We have a motion to adjourn.

Just to clarify, Mr. Duncan, as you know, we do have a second part to this meeting this evening. Is it your intention that we adjourn this meeting completely? We have witnesses scheduled for this evening.

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

Well, we have time between adjournment now and when we would reconvene, in any case, after the votes. So we have an opportunity to revisit.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

So the motion would be to suspend the meeting until after votes.

Members, that is the motion. The motion is not debatable.

[Chief Guy Lonechild]

Just for the record, this has been sent to the clerk.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

I don't know that it has been verified. As you know, the clerk is with us here this afternoon. We can't verify that in fact it has been received or that we can have it available in both official languages.

Nonetheless, the motion has been put on the floor. We're past the point of order. I've ruled on the point of order. We now have a motion to suspend. It's not debatable.

(Motion negatived)

Thank you, Mr. Duncan, for your intervention.

We will continue on, but I will say again, for whomever is the source of this document, that this is extremely pertinent to our conversations here this afternoon. I would urge you to consider sharing it with all members of the committee.

Mr. Lemay?

[Marc Lemay, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair.

I know Mr. Goodale has some questions that he wanted to ask. We could hear from him, then adjourn the meeting in 10 minutes to go and vote.

In the meantime, we'll take the document and set it aside. We can't use it because it is not in both official languages. Obviously, we cannot discuss the contents of a document that has not been translated and officially tabled in both languages. However, we could allow those who had questions to ask them, so that we can wrap up our business.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Thank you for your intervention. However, I do have a speakers list at the moment, and the meeting will continue.

Ms. Crowder, you had about one minute and 20 seconds left, if you would like to finish your five minutes.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

I know there were other people who wanted to comment.

Diane.

[Diane J. Adams]

I would like to build on the idea of the languages and how important they are. Languages are just a small piece of the puzzle of all the important cultural preservation that the First Nations University has been doing for 34 years. Students at this university are being told, time and time again, by the Government of Canada that they are being protected. But when first nations students and non-first nations students who have chosen to study at the First Nations University are being told that the university that has been working so very hard to preserve their culture, their languages, and all of those things that were lost through residential schools is going to close, and they will be forced to go and integrate into a mainstream institution that has not been doing that important cultural preservation work, on the floor and to the students, it feels like a policy of assimilation.

I will say very strongly that this is the reality of how students are interpreting this and how they feel that it is a real attack on their ability and their right to learn in an environment that honours their traditions and their culture; no different from French Canadians deciding to study at a French university, or Christian people deciding to study at a Christian university.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Fine then. Thank you, Ms. Crowder.

That's the end of our time.

Merci, Ms. Adams.

Now we're going to go to Mr. Dreeshen for five minutes, followed by Ms. Fry.

Go ahead, Mr. Dreeshen.