Thank you to all the witnesses for very compelling testimony.
You will see from all parliamentarians that we understand there's a very tragic situation that has gone on for far too long and that we need to find ways to address it. As we look at this bill what we really are trying to do is to make it right. I think we're all coming from a good place. The question is just where this bill is going to end up because it's very complex and complicated. To be quite frank, I think it's going to be rushed in many ways.
I take note of Mr. Newman's comments. We did have the Department of Justice here, but I think there was a grand total of five minutes to question the official. I want to take a quote from her. She said that “this legislation certainly recognizes an area of jurisdiction in relation to indigenous governments, essentially, governing bodies, which is a section 35 aboriginal rights...[and it] is founded on 91(24) as a basis for federal jurisdiction”. She also indicated that it is novel that for both sections 91 and 92 this is the first time legislatively we've sought to define these rights.
My first question is to Mr. Newman.
We quickly scanned through the bill. You talked about amendments to the Indian Act that gave jurisdiction on reserve to the provinces. I don't see anything in this bill that takes that away. Is that going to be in conflict with this particular piece of legislation? If there is something in the Indian Act that defines that, which I believe you indicated in your testimony, might that be a problem with this legislation? Is that accurate?