Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Of course, it's great to see people here from my home province.
With regard to consultation, I would first like to put on the record that appearing before a standing committee does not constitute consultation in any kind of form. I really welcome your input. I think your brief was excellent. But there has been a long history of first nations in particular, but also other organizations, clearly indicating that appearing at a standing committee is not consultation. I just want to say that I don't consider this consultation.
The fact that you have had some ongoing dialogue with the minister or with the department in my view also does not constitute consultation. I think it's an opening of a door. With respect to my colleagues opposite, just because you get a letter from the minister saying “Everything is hunky-dory, don't worry about it”.... We have other instances. For example, with specific claims, which is not your area of interest, a number of years ago we had an agreement signed between the minister and the Assembly of First Nations that indicated that a process was going to unfold with regard to dealing with specific claims over a certain dollar value. That process never materialized, despite a written confirmation.
So I appreciate your raising concerns around consultation, and I want to point out a section in the preamble that doesn't actually mention municipalities or local governments, or any other organizations. It says that they “have committed to working with First Nations to develop proposals for regulations to be made under this Act”.
In the preamble there is no mention of other stakeholders that would be included in this process, so I think you're right to be concerned about how you will be included. I want to also point out that this says “proposals for regulations”. It doesn't indicate involvement in developing the regulations, only proposals for that.
What happens with the development of regulations is it goes away. There is no parliamentary oversight for it. It does not come back to us for any kind of review. So any assurances about your involvement, unless you have it guaranteed, signed, written, outlining how you will be involved, by when, what the results will be, are not worth the paper they're written on.
Could you tell me specifically how you would like to be involved, what the consultation would look like from your view? And maybe Mr. Hildebrand could address that, because I know there's a legal aspect of this.
But Mayor Daykin, go ahead.