Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Nov. 17th, 2011

[Margaret Buist]

Yes.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Also, I would like to see it in comparison to what is required for municipal land management, so we can get a sense of whether you're up to speed to handle the tremendous volume of requests that I'm sure that you get under these things. That would very much be my interest here, to understand that completely.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Chris Warkentin]

Thank you.

[Margaret Buist]

We can divide it up to the reserve lands piece that I do, and get you that information. Sure.

[The Chair, Conservative, Chris Warkentin]

Thank you so much.

Mr. Johnson, you had a comment.

[Kris Johnson]

Sorry, but if I may make one further comment on that, another part of this to consider is that many first nations communities have land managers themselves, so we'll try to get some estimates. We don't have perfect numbers on that, but we'll try to provide some estimates about the level of capacity within those communities themselves.

[Andrew Beynon]

Sorry, but it is such an interesting question that we'll not just try to give you a sense of the personnel—how many employees there are--but also of the volume of the transactions, because they're in the thousands.

I would just stress that when Margaret was mentioning numbers of employees, that's not just for the processing of orders in council on lands. That's for the whole range of land and environmental functions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Chris Warkentin]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Payne, for the last five minutes.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

I want to thank our witnesses for being here today. I want to echo the comments of my colleague, Greg, about your being here and up-front and providing a bunch of information. I think it's really important that we in fact get some of the information to help us understand the land planning process. I think having you come back again would be beneficial. I certainly hope that we will see you again during this process.

One of the questions I have for you folks is this. How is the Indian lands registry system being improved? Also, has integrating reserve land registrations into provincial land registries been considered as well?

[Margaret Buist]

Thank you for that question.

We have a number of activities under way to improve the land registry system. You heard Andrew describe some of the challenges with respect to that registry system, such as when first nations have to mail documents into headquarters as opposed to pressing a button and electronically registering them.

We're doing a pilot project with first nations right now training them to work with electronic registries. We have some examples already for the First Nations Land Management Act registry and the self-government registry. Those first nations can register electronically. So we have experience with that, and we're expanding it into the Indian registration system.

We just did a major upgrade over the last two years of the information technology used in association with the registry. That has greatly increased the capacity to capture the data necessary. You were shown by Andrew a certificate of possession. The imaging for that is much better now, so it can be seen much better on the system. The details are captured and the reports can be produced. First nations can go onto that public registry and look up the documentation related to their reserve lands. That's helped speed up the process as well.

We're also integrating survey boundary information into the system. You heard Andrew speak about survey issues on reserve. We're able to match much better the survey information with the lot boundary descriptions of the land. In a way, we're trying to replicate the efficiencies that exist in the provincial land registries.

Finally, we've also increased what I'd call our geographic capability using the GIS system. That allows both first nations and developers to identify potential economic development opportunities on reserve much more easily and quickly.

Those are some of the improvements we have under way. We're trying to match, as much as possible, the efficiencies of the provincial land registries.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

You talked about pilots. Some bands are actually able to do this electronically now. Do you track any inquiries that are going on in this process? How has that helped the reserves—or in fact, the department?

[Margaret Buist]

We get daily requests for assistance through our information technology help desk, when people are trying to use the system. That's one area we track in assessing the challenges facing first nations people who are using the system. We also get letters to the minister that bring to our attention concerns with respect to the system.

Whenever we have those concerns raised, we look at further training for a particular land manager in a first nation. Or we may meet face to face with the first nation. Some of our officials are out in Kamloops next week to address some of the specific concerns of that first nation. That's how we respond.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

In terms of the system itself, have you had any companies or organizations access it to try to see how they can make investments within the first nations reserves?

[Margaret Buist]

Yes, very much so. As I said, it's a public system. It's open to the public, so businesses and banks that are looking at lending can all access the system.

[The Chair, Conservative, Chris Warkentin]

Thank you very much.

And thank you to our witnesses. We appreciate your testimony today. I know we'll be having you back before this study is complete, but thank you very much. For many of us, this is an important building block as we undertake the study. Thanks so much.

Members, there are a couple of things I want to make you aware of.

Earlier, we spoke a number of times about the Russian delegation that is seeking to speak to members of our committee. The clerk has been able to negotiate an agreement with our Senate colleagues to meet at the same time, so we can utilize the same translators. That will be on November 22, this Tuesday, from 9:45 till 11:30—but of course we will probably have to step out at 10:45 to get to our committee.

We'd like to know which committee members would be interested in doing that. There's room for at least six members. The delegation would like to talk to us about Arctic sovereignty and a whole host of other things, things that would be important for those of us who are interested in these issues and are representative of this committee. So I'd like to get an indication of who will go. I intend to go, and I think Carolyn, Dennis, and Linda will. I imagine we'll get some names from the other side as well.

There will be some information from the clerk with regard to that. But thank you, colleagues, because that is coming and I just wanted you to know it was happening and to be aware of it.

Committee members, the subcommittee will commence here shortly. So I adjourn this meeting.