Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister, and thank you department officials for coming before us. As I indicated in my speech in the House last night, New Democrats will be supporting this bill, with reservations.
We heard a very eloquent testimony from Stó:lo. We have before us a treaty which has unresolved issues. As all of the briefing documents and the 1991 framework agreement, signed in British Columbia, indicate, the look is toward first nations resolving overlapping and shared territorial disputes with some assistance from the B.C. Treaty Commission, but as we can see, in this case that hasn't happened.
Although the minister is indicating it will provide certainty, I would indicate that it may provide certainty for Yale, but it will not provide certainty for communities in the area, because Stó:lo has clearly indicated that they are going to continue to push their case forward in a number of ways.
With regard to the issue around overlapping and shared territories, Minister, you referred to reasonable public access. You did talk briefly about a couple of elements around reasonable public access.
Could you elaborate on what reasonable access looks like, and why it says “public” and not “Stó:lo”? It doesn't specifically note Stó:lõ access. What will happen if access is denied? What does that dispute resolution look like if access is denied?