Evidence of meeting #21 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was management.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal St. Paul's, ON
Would this lend itself in some ways, at the earliest level, to distance learning or...?
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal St. Paul's, ON
Is there some plan? Could you affect more people, or expose more people, or get them interested? Because the pipeline obviously is important, too, in terms of people.
Executive Director, National Aboriginal Lands Managers Association
That's right. We are currently developing some online training for our level-two training.
Liberal
Carolyn Bennett Liberal St. Paul's, ON
Obviously you would want as many people as possible trained, if you could.... Is there something we should be doing or some recommendation that you would want to see to build interest in people wanting to do this and to get involved with youth...?
Executive Director, National Aboriginal Lands Managers Association
We're a small organization trying to fulfill a mandate for capacity-building, so we do need more funding in our organization to be able to do that.
Liberal
Executive Director, National Aboriginal Lands Managers Association
Absolutely, yes.
Joe, did you want to add...?
Conservative
Joe Sabattis Chair, Atlantic Region Aboriginal Lands Association; Director, National Aboriginal Lands Managers Association
With regard to the training itself, there's a problem we're having at the first nation level. We send our individuals to school, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs pays for it, and if the person dies in office, moves on, or retires, then it's the responsibility of the band to incur the added expense of sending the next land manager to school. They have to cover their tuition, their travel, and all of their stuff, and it's very hard on them. They think first nations should have an option: that there should be money available if something happens to that individual prior to them leaving or something like that.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin
Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bennett.
Mr. Clarke, for seven minutes.
Conservative
Rob Clarke Conservative Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank the witnesses for coming here.
I have a few questions. Being from Saskatchewan, I'm quite familiar with the University of Saskatchewan and some of the leading roles they're taking with aboriginal learning. They're taking it to a different level and far exceeding what some of the current standards are across Canada.
Just to get some more clarification in regard to the roles or the course outline at U of S, what does this provide? What types of courses are you taking to get certified as land managers? What is the process?
I'll elaborate further. My riding is in northern Saskatchewan. On distance learning, what steps are being taken to address those needs when people can't come out of the north at certain times, or because of road or weather conditions, perhaps, or even because of just the remoteness of some of the communities in the north, where travel isn't readily available? Could you please elaborate on those issues?
Executive Director, National Aboriginal Lands Managers Association
I certainly will. I think the best answer would be from our colleagues who have taken the university courses.
Maybe you want to answer that, colleagues. I do have some course descriptions, but maybe your experiences with the university...?
Director, Chair of the Saskatchewan Aboriginal Lands Technicians, National Aboriginal Lands Managers Association
The courses we've taken for IPRMP are Introduction to Legal Concepts in Resource Management; Introduction to Management Issues; Environmental Studies: Economics/Law; Resource and Environmental Studies; Legal Instruments and Process in Resource Management; and Resource Management Project Assessment.
Those are the courses we've taken in the U of S. I find they really help us out as land managers. They've opened my eyes in regard to what legal stuff you have to follow. When I first started being a land manager for my first nation, they put me in an office and told me, “Here, go and find your job”. I had to dig through a bunch of papers and stuff, which I had to rely on the neighbouring first nation to help me with so I could do my job. And they really helped.
I relied on the Department of Indian Affairs quite a bit when I was starting. Then I finally got into the U of S and it really helped me to do my job with regard to capacity, environmental, and all the different guidelines and policies you have to follow regarding environmental. So all of that stuff that we did take in the U of S really helped us a great deal. Not only that--we got to meet first nations people from across Canada from diverse cultures. They brought their own problems, and we discussed them through the class. We had a lot of networking going on. We talked about what each first nation had done and whether they had similar circumstances. We were able to see how they've dealt with those issues and that type of stuff. So it really helped us out a great deal to take this training.
From my standpoint, I'm not going to be in lands management the rest of my life either. I'd like to do other stuff, but I do need to get somebody else certified, and it's a big issue. Managing 25,000 acres of land is a big undertaking, and you have to know every area you have to look after.
With that, I'll ask Joe if he has any other comments.
Chair, Atlantic Region Aboriginal Lands Association; Director, National Aboriginal Lands Managers Association
The University of Saskatchewan programs and the classes we took through it were very helpful, because you're applying what was learned in school at the first nations level. I've been in land management for close to 16 years, and I never knew about this stuff until I went to school and actually learned how to do environmental and legal descriptions and stuff like that going down the line, and then you go back into the first nation and apply it at the first nations level and work hand in hand with INAC or Aboriginal Affairs.
It was very helpful, and as Aaron said, you get to network with people who come from across Canada. You're all one family. You all have the same problems. You have the same solutions. It's very helpful, when you go back to your region, to apply what you have learned and what you have learned from the experience of your school colleagues.
To this day, I still keep in contact with my classmates. It's very good networking and I think the training program that is in place now should continue or even be made better so that it will eventually be beneficial to other first nations in Canada.
Conservative
Rob Clarke Conservative Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK
How did everyone taking the course become aware of it, first of all? And I know individuals do have to travel. Are there any options for distance learning?
Executive Director, National Aboriginal Lands Managers Association
I believe the university is looking into online training. I could leave you with the name of a contact at the university who could give you more information. Although we work in partnership, that's our level one, and then they move into our level two, what we deliver, so we've been asked to look into online training as well.
I think it's very important to realize that we are breaking professional standards. There's a level of risk of litigation associated with land management, so it's important that we move on into more responsibility. It's important to have a highly qualified land manager.
Conservative
Rob Clarke Conservative Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK
Under the First Nations Land Management Act, I could see the benefits here. But I also look at the Indian Act, under section 93. To handle 25,000 acres under section 93, you'd have to get written permission from the minister to remove even just a tree, hay, rocks, or sand. That creates a lot of problems right there. How are first nations facing those challenges? Or do you see that the First Nations Land Management Act is going to be beneficial?
Executive Director, National Aboriginal Lands Managers Association
The concept of the First Nations Land Management Act is a good concept—a good regime to get in. However, you have to build that capacity first before you can take on the challenge.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin
Thank you, Mr. Clarke; your time is up.
We're going to turn to Mr. Genest-Jourdain for five minutes.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin
I'll just stop the clock for a minute. If everyone could double-check their earpieces and make sure that they have them there, that would be great.
Mr. Genest-Jourdain.
NDP
Jonathan Genest-Jourdain NDP Manicouagan, QC
I want to begin by emphasizing the scope of the task your organization is faced with. Hats off to you. I have a very simple question for you.
Do you feel that the federal transfers are sufficient for your organization to meet its objectives?
Executive Director, National Aboriginal Lands Managers Association
Does the funding we receive meet the objectives of our association? We're always encouraged to improve, and with that comes more funds for improvement. We want to be able to branch out to more first nations to deliver, both in French and English, specific subject matters in addition to reserve land designations—anything that will help us, such as the environment or land-use planning.
So currently it doesn't, but we always want to improve, and you need more money to do that.
NDP
Jonathan Genest-Jourdain NDP Manicouagan, QC
My question is about the services provided to the members of local associations. The briefing notes mention “[...] referral services for first nations land managers requiring assistance on day-to-day issues or general inquiries.”
Are those issues common? How much demand is there? Do first nations submit additional information requests during the process? Is this after-sale service widely used by the first nations?