Good afternoon. I'm Ruth Massie, the Grand Chief of the Council for Yukon First Nations, and I work for nine self-governing first nations within our organization.
Thank you, committee members, for the invitation to speak to you today about our treaties and the challenges we have experienced to implement them over the past 20 years.
Our treaties are constitutionally protected, and they were negotiated with the spirit and intent of co-governing and co-managing our lands and resources with other governments in our region. “Constitutionally protected” means the provisions in our treaties trump any other federal policy and legislation that affects our treaty regions.
Canada, as a signatory, has the fiduciary obligation to implement the responsibilities and the provisions set out in its treaties with us. Implementation of the agreements has been our biggest challenge from day one. We have spent an incredible amount of time and money defending our treaties. These delays cause our goals to be set aside. Our number one goal is to become self-sufficient and self-reliant as first nation governments.
Self-government should be viewed as a return on investment for Canada. First nations have contributed greatly to the Canadian economy in the past 20 years in our region. We implore you, when considering how to resolve implementation issues, to look directly to the provisions set out in our agreements. Also, the policies that government adopts and works within need to be supportive of the existing provisions set out in our treaties. Government mandates have to be based on the commitments the Prime Minister stated publicly recently. Implementing our treaties together puts us on the path to reconciliation.
I'm joined today by one of my chiefs, Eric Fairclough, who will continue with us.
Thank you.