Jaime Battiste at the Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee

On March 11th, 2021. See this statement in context.

March 11th, 2021 / 1:20 p.m.

Liberal

Jaime Battiste Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS

Thank you. I'd like to start off by asking Romeo Saganash a question.

Romeo, I want to start off by acknowledging your work on this and getting it to where it is right now. I want to say how deeply I appreciate your work on this over the years. As you know, my father and Alex Denny, the Grand Captain of the Mi'kmaq nation, were going to the United Nations for years in trying to implement indigenous self-determination.

You noted earlier that UNDRIP and Bill C-15 are the minimum standards. Rights such as section 35 rights are talking about pre-existing inherent rights. The preamble of UNDRIP speaks to “the urgent need to respect and promote the inherent rights of indigenous peoples”.

As in your earlier comments, why is it an important point to know that these are pre-existing inherent rights?

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