Evidence of meeting #60 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 board.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin
Thank you, Mr. Bevington.
I do have a ruling with regard to this amendment.
Amendment NDP-44 is inadmissible as it goes against the principle of the bill by limiting the jurisdiction of the board.
Conservative
NDP
Dennis Bevington NDP Western Arctic, NT
I move that Bill C-47, in clause 11, be amended by adding after line 16 on page 129 the following:
( 1.1) The Board does not have jurisdiction in respect of any lands that are within a municipality.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin
I do have a ruling on this one as well. Amendment NDP-45 is inadmissible as it goes against the principle of the bill by limiting the jurisdiction of the board. Again, it's the same rationale.
Next is amendment NDP-46.
NDP
Dennis Bevington NDP Western Arctic, NT
I move that Bill C-47 in clause 11 be amended by replacing line 31 on page 130 with the following:
respect of lands, the environment and Aboriginal
I would like to speak to it.
NDP
Dennis Bevington NDP Western Arctic, NT
This particular amendment came out of a discussion that was held when the board had informal meetings in Yellowknife. The parliamentary secretary referred to this. He said, “We have given consideration to your requests about the membership on the board, and we have included that we will take into account traditional knowledge when we're appointing the members from particular regions”.
Why is this important? It's important because the tradition in the north, and the tradition in the legislation of these boards, is that first nations in their regions have rights of nomination of candidates for these boards. What's happened with this board is there are no rights of nomination.
That's quite different from the Yukon. The surface rights board in the Yukon has a requirement that half the members be aboriginal. What we're seeing here is that the first nations people in the Northwest Territories haven't been given the same level of consideration as the Yukon legislation gave to the aboriginal people in the Yukon.
That's a problem, and I think the first nations correctly identified it as a problem. I'm sure that in the consultation processes much was heard about this. I would consider it part of our unique development in the Northwest Territories, and a development that's supported by probably the vast majority of the residents in the north, that regional self-governments have authority in their regions.
That has to be expressed through a variety of means. When you're in the Sahtu region, the Sahtu people have a level of authority over land and resources in that region. When you're in the Gwich'in region, the same applies. When you're in the Tlicho region, the same applies.
What we have here is an attempt by the government to offer a morsel to the appointment of these people in the region. They put into the legislation that there's going to be a requirement in respect of land, the environment, “or” aboriginal traditional knowledge.
With this amendment, I have made it mandatory that aboriginal traditional knowledge be part of it, as was suggested by the parliamentary secretary in Yellowknife, when he made a presentation on it to the Gwich'in representative there.
I think this is the only part of this legislation that respects the trend and, might I say, the developing constitutional idea, for the Northwest Territories. It's an important distinction, this one word “or” versus “and”.
NDP
Dennis Bevington NDP Western Arctic, NT
No, I haven't finished yet, Mr. Chair. I guess I still have—
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin
You do have the floor.
I think you're clear here, and there is a speaking list of your own members who—
NDP
Dennis Bevington NDP Western Arctic, NT
Thank you very much for that. I appreciate that, because I want to make sure that we understand clearly why this one particular word is....
It's not clarification; it actually makes it mandatory that the person representing the Gwich'in region have a good understanding of aboriginal traditional knowledge. How are they going to get that? Most likely it would be through long-term presence in that area, or perhaps by status as a Gwich'in or as a Sahtu resident under the land claims. Those are things that were given in this act but were taken away by the wording.
So saying that's it's in respect of land, the environment, “or” aboriginal traditional knowledge is not good enough. Changing it to “and” aboriginal traditional knowledge ensures that the person being selected for that region will have the qualifications that were asked for and were granted by the government, as indicated by the parliamentary secretary in Yellowknife.
NDP
Jonathan Genest-Jourdain NDP Manicouagan, QC
According to the wording in French, Aboriginal traditional knowledge seems to be optional. This reduces the value of traditional knowledge. It is important to understand that this gives the minister a huge discretionary power and that it reduces the weight that needs to be attached to knowledge that people have acquired on the ground over thousands of years. It is essential. In this case, we are reducing the added value of the Aboriginal participants.
I think that the people living on those isolated territories would view this poorly. I would submit this to you in its entirety.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin
Thank you.
We're voting on amendment NDP-46.
(Amendment negatived)
We're on amendment NDP-47.
NDP
Dennis Bevington NDP Western Arctic, NT
Mr. Chair, I move that Bill C-47, in clause 11, be amended by adding after line 8 on page 158 the following:
82.1 Despite any other provision of this Act, the Board may refuse to grant any application for access under this Act.
What this—
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin
Amendment NDP-47 is inadmissible as it goes against the principle of the bill by giving the board the power of refusing to grant access. That is power not envisioned within this bill.
Next is amendment NDP-48.
Dennis Bevington NDP Western Arctic, NT
Mr. Chair, I move that Bill C-47, in clause 11, be amended by adding after line 8 on page 158 the following:
82.1 For greater certainty, the Board may specify in an access order made under this Act that access to particular lands or waters must only take place (a) by air; (b) by means of specified air corridors; and (c) during certain specified times of the year.
This was asked for as an amendment by northerners. This is understanding the nature of access in the north. It's a “may” clause, so it doesn't bind the board to any particular action. What it does is it gives it the authority to lay out very specific conditions.
The government has argued that these are in there as well, but this, for greater certainty, outlines it in the bill. This means there will be situations where the only access that will be granted will be in a certain fashion. That means that issues of economics will not prevail over issues of environment, or when it comes to determining the method of access.
That's the nature of this amendment. It's not one that will make or break this, but it's certainly one that was asked for.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin
We're voting on amendment NDP-48.
(Amendment negatived)
Next is amendment NDP-49.
NDP
Dennis Bevington NDP Western Arctic, NT
Mr. Chair, I move that Bill C-47, in clause 11, be amended by adding after line 17 on page 158 the following:
83.1 Where the Board issues an order following a hearing under this Act, the Board may require any individual, entity, organization or government that was a party to the hearing to provide security in the manner and amount specified by the Board for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the terms of the order.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin
Mr. Bevington, amendment NDP-49 is inadmissible as it goes against the principle of the bill, particularly proposed subsection 71(2) of the Northwest Territories surface rights board act.
We'll consider amendment LIB-3.
Carolyn.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Chris Warkentin
We're voting on amendment LIB-3.
(Amendment negatived [See Minutes of Proceedings])
(Clause 11 agreed to)
(Clauses 12 to 20 inclusive agreed to)
Point of order, Ms. Crowder.
