Mahsi cho.
Vahn gwiinzii, Madam Chair and distinguished members of the committee.
This is my first time in my capacity as the grand chief that I am presenting to the committee, and I realize that time is very short here. I know I'm not going to get through everything, but I'll do my best. I'd like to give a little background and then perhaps share some of our successes, our challenges, and then of course end by giving you some of our recommendations.
For those of you who don't know Gwich'in, our traditional territory extends through parts of Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska, where our people have lived for time immemorial. We are signatories to Treaty No. 11, which was signed in 1921 as you have heard. We're also signatories to the 1992 Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement. I was only 15 at the time when our claim was signed, and now, in my capacity as the grand chief and president, it hasn't taken too long to see that we are not where we should be 25 years later.
There have been some successes, I must say. Some of those successes include, after the claim was settled, the development of co-management boards, such as the Gwich'in Renewable Resources Board, Gwich'in Land and Water Board, and community-level-designated Gwich'in organizations in each of our communities. We have a board of directors in place that gives the direction to the Gwich'in Tribal Council. In 2003, we also had the land use plan finalized for the entire settlement region. We did, in April, celebrate in each of our communities that 25-year milestone. We do recognize there are things to celebrate, but there's also a lot of concern in terms of implementation and how the government has been failing in some areas, in our perspective.
The Gwich'in claim is unique for many reasons. One of the reasons is that we look at it as a land claim within a land claim in regard to the Yukon Transboundary Agreement, which is appendix C. I'll touch on this again later if I have time, but for now, the committee should be aware that the Gwich'in traditional territory and now the land claim itself straddles the Yukon-NWT border, and this leads to a variety of challenges for us, complications that remain not well understood by key government officials and departments.
I recognize that many of the submissions you will receive will focus on some negatives and there's always room for improvement. Let me get right into some ways we think we can improve here.
The situation and examples bring several of our concerns to the surface. First, there is a need for government to be more active partners in the implementation of modern treaties, a partner that recognizes the extreme resource and capacity constraints of indigenous organizations, and steps up with leadership assistance and genuine interest in making this progress with us—again, a step towards reconciliation. Failure to shift thinking and action in this manner pushes modern treaty holders to what has been referred to as “implementation by litigation”. Such an approach would be, in our view, a win-lose at best, and more likely lose-lose for Canada and indigenous groups.
There's also clear accountability gaps with respect to the implementation of our modern treaties. The government is slow to act because there are minimal accountability mechanisms in place. The government, to us, seems slow to act for those reasons. Government systems and structures need to be improved to ensure that officials are vested in the joint projects of implementing these agreements. There needs to be a recalibrating of departments' and officials' interests and incentives to ensure accountability and motivate action.
In regard to consultation, as the committee would be aware, Canada has come a long way, largely through court decisions, in clarifying consultation roles and duties of government and industry. The progress continues and we welcome much of this. However, we do feel there is an urgent need.
In just the past year alone, it's very obvious that an organization such as the Gwich'in Tribal Council lacks capacity in certain areas. Just in the past few months, for example, we have been engaged in 10 different legislative reform initiatives being moved forward by the GNWT, many of which will affect core protection and interests in our land claim agreement. There are currently no less than six federal legislative reform initiatives that also affect our core rights in respect to fisheries, navigation, energy, environmental assessments, and more.
This does not include any of the many matters on the Yukon side that I have mentioned, nor does it include broader policy framework engagement, nor does it include specific project development consultation, to say nothing of ongoing social issues in areas such as health, education, early childhood development, and justice.
As the committee would be aware, Canada has made several changes in recent years to the system's structures and processes dealing with modern treaties, including a statement of principles on the federal approach to modern treaty implementation and the cabinet directive on the federal approach to modern treaty implementation. However, we feel there's much more room for improvement.
In our view, we'd like to align with the Land Claims Agreements Coalition's position that it would be more appropriate for all of this to be embedded in an overarching federal policy. Creating such a policy is an opportunity for Canada to set out clearly what its intentions and goals are, and how all the recent changes and structure coherently work together to reach stated objectives. Without such policy with everyone involved, including government departments, officials, industry, and modern treaty holders, this will continue to operate in a context of wasteful time.
We further suggest that an independent modern treaty implementation oversight office be established, either within or in addition to the overarching federal policy. We see a strong and urgent need for an independent oversight office, as the Nisga'a mentioned in their submission to this committee. A detailed proposal on this will be forthcoming from the LCAC.
I strongly believe that this structural change is the key component that would benefit all parties and ensure that any progress being made today can withstand any setbacks in the future. The time for this is now, and the change is a relatively easy one as the proposal will detail. This would be a key institutional cornerstone of reconciliation for us all going forward.
In conclusion, I would like to suggest you consider the following suggestions. First, address the accountability gap through the creation of the independent oversight body. Second, address unmanageable consultation burdens through new creative approaches. Third, improve coherence across new and old federal system structures and practices through the creation of the national overarching policy. Enhance measures to sensitize departments and officials to modern treaties in the context of modern treaty holders, including the aligning of incentives and attitudes.
I have more to say but I know I'm out of time here. Mahsi cho for listening and considering our perspectives.