Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on April 25th, 2013

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Great, thank you.

[Wab Kinew]

Thank you for asking for that clarification.

[The Chair, Conservative, Chris Warkentin]

Thank you very much, Mr. Kinew. We appreciate it's early where you are. We certainly appreciate your willingness to join us this morning.

We'll now suspend the meeting, colleagues.

A panel is arriving, so we'll suspend for five minutes to get those folks arranged and ensure that everyone's in place. We'll begin again in five minutes.

The meeting is suspended.

[The Chair, Conservative, Chris Warkentin]

Colleagues, I call the meeting back to order.

This next hour of the meeting is a little different from the first hour. You'll recall, colleagues, that the last meeting we had a round table similar to the set up for this second hour.

In introduction, I want to first and foremost welcome our guests. Thank you so much for being here. We appreciate your willingness to come to Ottawa and engage with this committee. We always appreciate having folks living in the communities affected by the legislation that we're reviewing come to our committees so that they can be heard directly. We certainly appreciate that.

We're going to begin by introducing ourselves. We'll go around the table, starting on the left-hand side.

My name is Chris Warkentin and I'm the chair of the committee. I represent a riding in northwest Alberta. Thanks again for being here.

We'll turn to Jean.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Jean Crowder, I'm a member of Parliament for Nanaimo—Cowichan, on Vancouver Island, and I'm the aboriginal affairs critic for the NDP.

[Jonathan Genest-Jourdain, NDP, Manicouagan, QC]

Jonathan Genest-Jourdain, member of Parliament for Manicouagan.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Western Arctic, NT]

Denis Bevington, member of Parliament for the Northwest Territories.

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Carol Hughes, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing in northern Ontario.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Carolyn Bennett, member of Parliament for St. Paul's in Toronto, and I'm the critic for aboriginal affairs for the Liberal Party.

[Chief Marcel Head, Chief, Shoal Lake Cree Nation]

Marcel Head, chief of Shoal Lake Cree Nation, Saskatchewan.

[Chief James Plewak, Chief, Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation, Executive Council, Anishinaabe Agowidiiwinan]

Chief James Plewak, chief of the Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation, the Riding Mountain Band, Anishinaabe Agowidiiwinan, Treaty No. 2, Manitoba.

[Chief Nelson Houle, Chief, Ebb and Flow First Nation]

Chief Nelson Houle, Ebb and Flow First Nation, signatory of Treaty No. 2.

[Chief Eugene Eastman, Chief, O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation]

Chief Eugene Eastman, O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation, Treaty No. 2.

[Charles Whitecap, Policy Analyst, Prince Albert Grand Council]

Charles Whitecap, I work with the Prince Albert Grand Council.

[Charlene Desrochers, Lawyer, Constance Lake First Nation]

I'm Charlene Desrochers. I'm a member of Constance Lake First Nation in Northern Ontario.

[Kelly Tailfeathers, Researcher, Blood Tribe]

I'm Kelly Tailfeathers, Blood Tribe, the Kainai, Blackfoot Confederacy.

[Brent Rathgeber, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

Good morning. I'm Brent Rathgeber, member of Parliament for Edmonton—St. Albert. Thank you for coming.

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

Welcome. I'm Stella Ambler, member of Parliament for Mississauga South, and chair of the Special Committee on Murdered and Missing Aboriginal Women.

[Kyle Seeback, Conservative, Brampton West, ON]

Good morning. I'm Kyle Seeback. I'm the member of Parliament for Brampton West, just outside of Toronto.

[Ray Boughen, Conservative, Palliser, SK]

Good morning. I'm Ray Boughen. I'm the member of Parliament for Palliser, located in south-central Saskatchewan.

[Rob Clarke, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Good morning. My name is Rob Clarke, and my riding is Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River in northern Saskatchewan.

[The Chair, Conservative, Chris Warkentin]

Thank you.

We're also joined by Greg Rickford, the parliamentary secretary to the minister. He had to step out for a call but he'll be right back.

First and foremost, colleagues, we've been asked to have a map distributed and it's in one language only. The names are in English. I'm looking for unanimous consent to circulate that document.

Seeing no resistance, we'll circulate it so it can be referenced during our time together.

Today we want to thank our guests for coming to our committee.

You are well aware of the private member's bill that is before us today. What we will do is reflect on either the bill in general or its specific elements.You're aware that the bill touches on a number of different points of the Indian Act. It removes some sections of the Indian Act and works toward replacing that act with a process by which the federal minister would have to report to this committee or to Parliament on an annual basis.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

We'd welcome any written submissions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Chris Warkentin]

Yes, I want to invite our guests that if they have a written submission in addition to their comments, we would be happy to have that reflected in the testimony.

Thank you, Chief Head. We'll make sure that we include that.

In terms of the act there are significant and diverse elements that are being reflected on and impacted by this bill. There are economic sanctions and trade sanctions that are being removed from first nations land and people as they relate to agriculture and produce. Also being removed are archaic elements of the act that prescribe provisions for education and truancy officers. There is, in addition, the removal of a portion of the act that deals with residential school provisions. There are also changes that would remove the ability of the federal minister to review and override decisions by first nations governments when it comes to bylaws. Other proposed changes would remove the minister's responsibility for overseeing wills and estates. There are other elements that some of you may want to reflect on, and we invite those comments as well.

We'd like to turn it over to you. We want to hear directly from you on these and other aspects of the bill that are important to your communities.

We have traditionally let you decide who wants to go first. We certainly are interested in hearing from you.

[Chief James Plewak]

Mr. Chair, I'd like to invite Chief Houle to describe the significance of the eagle feather that we have before us.