Evidence of meeting #29 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 process.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Conservative
Conservative
Ray Boughen Conservative Palliser, SK
Thank you, Chair.
Thanks, Chief, for coming and sharing part of your day with us. We appreciate that very much.
I have a couple of questions, Chief. We have heard about the challenges you faced in your community when you entered into the first nations land management. What would you say would be the biggest challenge of that operation?
Chief, Nipissing First Nation
What was the biggest challenge of land management?
Chief, Nipissing First Nation
It's getting our bylaws in order and getting our environmental law developed. Then, of course, it's dealing with these contaminated sites.
It has been a very favourable arrangement for us at Nipissing First Nation. There are so many positive things to say about us as a people and about what we believe in. I don't know if you noticed on the briefing note or whether the logo showed up. You will see it's a deer's head. Our logo is the land, the people, and the future. If you look closely inside of that deer head, you will see the land and the people. The forward motion of that deer head represents our future. That's what we're really all about.
Conservative
Ray Boughen Conservative Palliser, SK
Coming back to the land being left to the children, I'm kind of interested in how that works. What happens if...we'll say a couple has been married for 30 years and their children are all grown up. One person is of the first nation but the other person isn't. What happens if the first nation person dies and the land is not given to the surviving spouse but rather kind of broken up for the surviving children? Does the surviving spouse end up with zero?
Chief, Nipissing First Nation
It all depends. Hopefully, they would have made a will. In that will, or the attachment to that will, it should state that should one or the other pass away—especially in the case of the non-native person—they would have the right to live in that house and on that land until they no longer required it.
Conservative
Chief, Nipissing First Nation
It would also be for the non-native person.
Chief, Nipissing First Nation
It would be for either person, but it has to be stated in the will.
Conservative
Ray Boughen Conservative Palliser, SK
Without any will, it reverts back to the children getting the land?
Chief, Nipissing First Nation
I'd like to believe that our young people have values. If they were raised in that home and they were respectful of their father or their mother, they would abide and say, “Okay, you stay there as long as you want.” That's all I understand it to be.
Conservative
Chief, Nipissing First Nation
So far, yes. We've not had any major, major problem.
Conservative
Conservative
Ray Boughen Conservative Palliser, SK
Okay, maybe just a fast question.
I notice in your submission, Chief, that you outlined four recommendations. What would you say is your top recommendation of the four?
Chief, Nipissing First Nation
Well, we definitely want that site cleaned up—the radon site. That's one of our priorities.
The other priority is that it's coming into the spring season and there's more we have to spend on transporting our vehicles back and forth. We're not getting additional moneys for our public works department. It has to come down to public works. Our gravel roads are not paved. We have two communities that have paved roads.
All of them are our priority. Sorry, sir.
