Evidence of meeting #84 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was manitoba.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:55 p.m.
Grand Chief, Southern Chiefs' Organization Inc.
I'm unsure of what.... I guess the fire marshal would be the one who makes the decision on how firefighters are preparing.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
The idea is, it's a broader mandate, so it will be a fire marshal for Canada, and just strictly....
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
It's for the country, and they would be focused strictly on indigenous communities. That's my understanding. I could be wrong and my colleagues can correct me here. But if you're unaware of it—
12:55 p.m.
Grand Chief, Southern Chiefs' Organization Inc.
I'm not familiar with it.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
Okay, we'll move on.
I am very interested in your comment earlier that our indigenous people were the first Red Cross when the settlers came in.
In today's scenario, what are your top three frustrations with the Red Cross and the way the fires this summer have...?
12:55 p.m.
Grand Chief, Southern Chiefs' Organization Inc.
The thing is, I don't want to really make it about the Red Cross and them. They do great work all over the world, unquestionably.
What has happened is that first nations have always been responsible for ourselves, for our laws, everything, everything that has to do with governance. For the last 150 years we have had people coming in there telling us that this is wrong, and there is a whole history there. I'm sure everyone here is aware.
What we want to do is re-establish and recognize that these things are in place already. We already have people who are out on the land and they know.... Communities have the ability, the capacity, to plan for themselves. No amount of money is going to make it more efficient. If a community has an action plan and the community has the resourcing to respond to emergencies, flying people in or trying to build that will never ever compare to the day-to-day interaction and communication within the community itself.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
Out of the communities you represent, how many have emergency plans right now?
12:55 p.m.
Grand Chief, Southern Chiefs' Organization Inc.
I think all of them have some plan. They all have to have a plan and the tribal councils help as well within a region. We have four tribal councils within SCO and they help to provide that as well, so there are quite a few.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
Are those emergency plans based on some best practices, or is it strictly...?
12:55 p.m.
Grand Chief, Southern Chiefs' Organization Inc.
I think a lot of the fire codes are the same. They're usually the same. I think all of our public buildings are usually pretty standard across the board. Obviously, because we haven't been resourced properly we don't have simple things. Our extinguishers or our fire alarms.... We've seen examples where the fire alarms weren't working in a community for whatever reason.
Sandy Bay was a terrible example where many people lost their lives in a house fire, and that has to do with underfunding in housing.
We're always looking for efficiencies on everything because we know there is always a scarcity of resources.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
One of the comments we've heard was with respect to implementing the fire code because I believe our building inspector, from the Bay of Quinte, had suggested that oftentimes it's the leadership within the community that actually is responsible for building the houses, but they're also responsible for zoning and building code enforcement. Often there is a conflict in terms of timing because there are often delays, and so on.
Have you experienced any issues with respect to the building code being implemented?
1 p.m.
Grand Chief, Southern Chiefs' Organization Inc.
I haven't heard. I know there are some difficulties with that, because we don't have an organization that has really been able to keep people on task. I mean, our first nations are operating in a state of crisis in the community all the time. We have a history of social problems that have been created. There are not many jobs, and everything is socially funded. We have a huge amount of wealth all around us; meanwhile, the community has not benefited in any way. This has to do with trade barriers within the community. Everything is linked. That is why we are unable to deal with some of these things—because we are so preoccupied with all the other things we have to deal with day to day. What we try to do is endeavour to expand that so it's not being missed.
1 p.m.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
I think we are past time. Are we, Madam Chair?
1 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal MaryAnn Mihychuk
The committee usually adjourns at one o'clock, but I wanted you to complete your comments.
1 p.m.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
If you have anything else to say, we have about a minute.
1 p.m.
Grand Chief, Southern Chiefs' Organization Inc.
I just want to thank everyone for listening to me today. The building codes are something we push in the communities. Every community is autonomous, on its own. They are first nations, and they are the ones who sign treaties. We are in agreement that treaties don't make nations; nations sign treaties. That is the relationship. It is a partnership.
The whole vision was that we would proceed toward sustainable prosperity together and that we would respect the cultural and political integrity of each other's nations. That's what we are here to let you know. We are always willing to listen and build understanding among our partners and relatives.
Meegwetch.
1 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal MaryAnn Mihychuk
Thank you for coming to Ottawa and presenting. We appreciate that.
The meeting is adjourned.