I had understood that the drafting of this piece of legislation was to carry out a court decision and that there would be some consultation, but because of the time frame—and I think I was persuaded—the bulk of the consultation would take place in phase two. Phase one was just doing what the court told us we had to do. But when I realized the plaintiffs hadn't been consulted—and it really was a mistake; there was a letter drafted that was never sent—I was actually really embarrassed and immediately called the plaintiffs and had a very good conversation about this long fight they've had.
I must say that this happened to me once before, a decade ago, on the Quarantine Act, where again, I realized that my idea of consultation and other people's ideas of consultation may not be exactly the same.
Putting citizens and particularly first nations, Inuit, and Métis people into the DNA of what is a meaningful consultation is something we really have learned and we have to get better at.