Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the minister for her generosity with her time and for joining us today. I know when you have more than one committee you're participating with, it can be a challenge.
I'm going to get in a few questions, so if I do end up cutting you off, it's because I'm trying to get as many questions in as possible.
I want to first of all give one or two quotes.
Yesterday the parliamentary secretary to indigenous affairs in the House quoted the national chief of the AFN and said that a veto is not utilized in free, prior, and informed consent. Today National Chief Bellegarde said, “Free, prior and informed consent is very simply a right to say yes and right to say no”, and that implementing UNDRIP, which is what you've committed to, is going to be requiring legislation, significant changes in our laws, regulations, and policies.
Then we have a quote from University of Ottawa law professor Larry Chartrand. He said, “If they don't want to go along with the project, at the end of the day they can say no, and that's the equivalent of a veto.”
For the sake of the industry, could you please not dance around that language? If you are heading down the path where you can say no, and it doesn't happen, or you can call it a veto, and I don't know which language you want to use, but could you perhaps provide clarity for our natural resource industry? I would ask that you do it in a minute or less, because I have two more questions.