Thank you.
Our staff have joined us as well. We have Tonina and Norah, who are our analysts, and we have our clerk, Jean-Marie, who many of you will have been in touch with as we have worked to accommodate as many witnesses as we could today.
We appreciate that you've come from different locations to be with us today. Obviously your voices are very important to any issue, but specifically to this issue. When we're talking about the Indian Act, it's your communities that will be affected by any changes to this act.
I think we've heard agreement across this country, and across political lines, that the Indian Act is a relic of the past and something that needs to be replaced. Obviously there are different opinions across the country as to how that should be undertaken. Bill C-428 is one attempt to undertake that. We have heard from folks who have come with different perspectives as it relates to this bill as well.
We are interested in hearing your feedback. Obviously you've had an opportunity not only to read this bill, but you've also had the experience of living under the Indian Act and knowing how these changes might affect you.
We want to get right into it and hear from you with regard to it.
Obviously there are a number of provisions within this act. Specifically, I think those of you who heard the earlier submissions by the bar association will have heard that there are different components. I don't want to assume that you'll have a perspective that would be similar to the bar association or other witnesses.
However, it would seem that there are the less controversial provisions as they relate to a number of things, such as the sale or barter of produce, the departmental employees being prohibited from trading with first nations folks without a licence, and a number of provisions as they relate to truancy and the residential schools generally.
I thought we would begin with your reflections on those provisions, and then we'll get in to the issues surrounding bylaws and wills and estates further on.
I would like to turn it over to folks who might want to jump in right away. If you have a perspective as it relates to specifically the sale and barter of produce, or the ways that this is being contemplated, or the renewal of these provisions within this act, we'd like to hear the general discussion on those. If you want to go elsewhere, we're fine with that. We thought that would be a way that we could begin the discussion this morning.
Barry, we'll hear from you to begin with.