Thanks, Mr. Battiste, for your question. I will try my best to answer it.
I'm going to do it somewhat laterally and perhaps respond to the trends I see happening internationally.
I think it's really important for this committee and for our Parliament to be aware that there is growing acceptance internationally of the obligations of businesses and companies to uphold human rights. Right now, internationally, there are negotiations for a binding treaty on the obligations of businesses to respect human rights.
When we talk about implementing the UN declaration, which includes the right of indigenous peoples to free, prior and informed consent in certain circumstances, this is becoming very standard internationally. I would hope that Canada as a country that holds itself out as a leader in human rights is going to continue to positively participate in arenas where human rights are being pushed.
Even where we continue to sound these alarms at home, they are not being sounded internationally. In fact, even the World Bank, in their environmental and social framework for IPF operations, ESS7 on indigenous peoples includes free, prior and informed consent as one of the requirements for World Bank funding.
Maybe investors are saying they are concerned, but I can tell you that internationally the expectation is that industry is going to uphold fundamental human rights. The UN declaration is just one place we can turn to understand the rights of indigenous peoples.
As I alluded to in my introductory statement, the UN declaration is not the only instrument out there that's relevant. It is very clear, under other binding international human rights treaties to which Canada is a party, indigenous peoples have a right to free, prior and informed consent. This includes the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
While we all want to be aware of economic impacts, we also have to recognize that right now there are many indigenous peoples who are paying the price for development. Maybe we're talking about shifting some of the economic costs and benefits of certain developments, but I don't see Canada being offside by this consideration in the bill here. We are actually apace now with these international developments. If this doesn't happen, it's coming in elsewhere, so we might as well work now to start making sure that our domestic processes are upholding these international standards.