Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on March 10th, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Thank you, Minister.

Thanks, Cathy, for that.

Next on the order is Georgina.

[Georgina Jolibois, NDP, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Thank you, minister, and thank you Chair.

January 22, 2016, was a very sad day for La Loche and for all of Canada. I appreciate your coming to visit us in La Loche, as well as the Prime Minister and other ministers who came to visit us.

There were some specific requests made when you visited regarding additional RCMP members to work with the schools on the reserve and in town, support for mental health and PTSD, and the reinstatement of the Project Venture youth initiative and other initiatives. What can I tell the people when I go home?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

Thanks for that, and thank you for joining us at all the meetings. I think we learned a lot in that visit. It's really important as we go forward. We go forward together with the province, the first nation, the town, and the Métis community.

The federal government funds the tribal council to provide health support. Hopefully we will be able to help again with the friendship centre that ended up being exemplary—the best friendship centre in the country last year—as well as with things like Project Venture that we know work. We are working very hard. I think I told you my brother-in-law works in land-based healing in Alberta and thinks that Project Venture is fantastic. We're going to work together on all those.

As you know, in subcontracting the RCMP to Saskatchewan, they make those choices. We are working with the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness to try to make sure that your community moves forward in a good way. You and I can work together on ticking off each of those details.

[Georgina Jolibois, NDP, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

It's really sad to hear that answer. I'm sorry, but it's really hard when I go back into the community and listen to the painful stories.

According to the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, since the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that Canada racially discriminates against first nations children, there have been 400,000 nights slept by first nation children in foster care, and health care denials continue. Canada has not taken any action to relieve the children's suffering, despite having recommendations for immediate relief on the books from INAC-related Auditor General of Canada reports dating back 16 years. Why are these kids still waiting for action?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

The system is broken and it needs to be fixed. We need the child welfare system overhauled. Regardless of the result of the tribunal finding, we are going to have to fix this.

We applaud the work of Cindy Blackstock and so many of the advocates. They tell us we have more kids in care now than at the height of the residential schools era. When those kids are dying by suicide, going missing, and getting murdered, it is unacceptable.

This is one of those situations in which the jurisdictions get in the way. We have to work with the provinces and territories, the first nations, and the municipalities to fix this system. I look forward to your help.

[Georgina Jolibois, NDP, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

When you came to visit us, the Métis National Council of Canada, as well as the province and the regional board, were talking about the boarding schools. Have you had further discussions and further movement on that file?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

The Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement is for only a few of the many children who were affected by those policies. From coast to coast to coast, we are working very hard to deal with cases that didn't fit into that particular agreement. We are working with the Minister of Justice and trying to figure out how we can get out of court or stay out of court and be able to do whatever we can to do right by those children. The abuse and what they've lived through and the consequences to Canada are unacceptable. We have to understand what happened and learn how we can fix it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Thank you for sharing the question with Romeo.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

Maybe, Romeo, you could give a tutorial on UNDRIP. Could you help with the answer?

[Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Mr. Chair, thank you, and I want to thank the minister for being here today.

I want to go back to Cathy's question, because I think it's a fundamental question, not just for indigenous people in this country but for all Canadians. We need clear answers on some of those questions.

I want to start by asking a quick question. As early as 2004 in the Haida Nation case, the Supreme Court determined that in consultation with aboriginal peoples on serious matters there is an obligation for full consent of the aboriginal nation. The Supreme Court has not determined what “serious matters” meant, but it talked about full consent in 2004. The 2014 Chilcotin case mentions consent nine times in nine paragraphs. It mentions full control of resources and territories 11 times in that ruling.

Do you agree that free, prior, and informed consent is already in Canadian law?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

That's a great question. We have accepted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. We will implement it and it will include free, prior, and informed consent. We will work with all jurisdictions and all departments to help them to understand what free, prior, and informed consent looks like and feels like in respecting those rights.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Thank you, Minister.

Michael, this is hopefully the final question on the mandate letter.

[Michael McLeod, Liberal, Northwest Territories, NT]

Thank you, Minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

I'm sorry, Michael, but we have a point of order.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Mr. Chair, you talked at the beginning about taking a break, but we did start late. We don't get the minister here very often, so with the committee's indulgence, maybe we could flow straight through. That would be great.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

That provokes a follow-up question. Will we continue through the questioning order? Is there agreement from the committee to do so?

I see agreement. Thank you.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

If it's the will of the committee we can, but in the second hour, if people want to ask questions on mandate, that's fine too. This is your two hours, so do what you want.

The supplementary estimates (C) are pretty straightforward, I think, and the mandate is huge, so I'm happy with whatever you prefer to do.

However, I will be back after the budget on the main estimates.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

I see nodding heads there. I just wanted to make sure that members have the information they need to make their vote at the end on the supplementary estimates.

With that, we'll carry on through the order without a break.

Michael, go ahead, please. I beg your pardon for the interruption.

[Michael McLeod, Liberal, Northwest Territories, NT]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I was pleased to hear that you recognize that the system is broken. I think you've also been quoted as saying that we need a change in the machinery of the government as we move forward. We also heard very recently from the AFN that the comprehensive claim policy is outdated and needs to be reviewed, and the national chief recommended that a review committee be established to review it and update it.

Is that something you would consider doing? Is that something in your plans that we can expect to see?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

I think even the words “comprehensive claim” bug a lot of people in terms of having to claim for something that's already theirs. Again, I think that the work of Joe Wild in the treaties and aboriginal government part of the department is innovative and creative. We're asking them to be as innovative and creative as they can in putting on paper what a reconciliation agreement would look like with regard to what were once called comprehensive claims.

We want to find certainty in a way that communities can go forward. We need the advice, but it's going to be different coast to coast to coast, and we have that new flexibility with the $150 million. There were many linear boxes there that said “we can do this, but we can't do that”, and we are trying to erase those so that people can be creative and find something that will work for them.

[Michael McLeod, Liberal, Northwest Territories, NT]

Mr. Chair, a lot of aboriginal governments involved in negotiations are contacting my office and saying that the same players who were there under the Conservative government are still there in the negotiations. They're the same people with the same mandate, yet this government campaigned on real change. Has there been new direction provided to the bureaucracy, to the people? Have the mandates been reviewed and updated to reflect what was in the platform?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

Absolutely. Particularly with civil servants, my experience over the years is that loyal implementation is exactly that. They take from my mandate letter what they have to do. Their job is to move forward what I've been asked to do by the Prime Minister. There may be situations in which independent negotiators are not making progress, and then that'll have to change.

Mainly the mandate is to be creative and innovative, but it's also about making sure that people have the clear direction that this is about a negotiation. This isn't about “take it or leave it” or “we'll see you in court”. That is, I think, a very distinct change that I hope will feel different on the ground. There is no question that the people working in my department know exactly what we want and how we will see success, which means getting some of these tricky ones done.

[Hélène Laurendeau, Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development]

If I may add something, with the permission of the chair—

[Michael McLeod, Liberal, Northwest Territories, NT]

No, that's fine.

Mr. Chairman, I have another question.

I think the minister already answered this, but I still see issues such as the harmonization proposal on the table. That was introduced by the previous government, and I'm hoping it's not something we're going to honour as a new government.

We also heard from the AFN that there are 58 aboriginal languages in this country and that only three may survive. We need to do something about revitalizing aboriginal languages. I was hoping to see something in the terms of the Kelowna accord that would focus on languages.

I wanted to ask the minister if there are any plans to develop a strategy that will direct investment or work toward trying to do something very quickly.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Toronto—St. Paul's, ON]

Michael, I think you'll find that language is in the mandate letter of Minister Joly, and we're working together on that issue. I get to work on language and culture in early learning and child care, in K-12, and in pushing on the post-secondary institutions. We're thrilled when we can see even at La Loche one of the immersion Dene schools or what the Mi'kmaq are doing. We can see progress.

Minister Joly has the preservation of these languages that are at risk and is working on it, but it is something that we'll do together.