Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on June 19th, 2024

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

That's not the biggest one that's being proposed, and that's just below them. Are they at the table with that one? There's a bigger one being proposed just below the Bassano dam, which they well know. Have you had or will you have any part of the discussions on that one?

[Clayton Leonard]

No. That's not been the case. In fact, the massive irrigation expansion in southern Alberta, which is significantly funded by the federal government, has included no consultation. The Blackfoot nations made a request for federal engagement on that, including a federal environmental assessment of each of those reservoirs. The request was declined.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Was it declined for the one below the Bassano dam?

[Clayton Leonard]

Yes.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Was it not to be allowed in consultation?

[Clayton Leonard]

We requested a federal environmental review and it was declined. That's the Snake—

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

No, it's not the Snake. The Snake is above the Bassano dam. I'm talking about the new Eyremore dam. The provincial government has funding toward the studies for that one.

Okay. I'm at time.

Thanks.

[Chief Troy Knowlton]

If you don't mind, perhaps I could address the comment.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Jamie Schmale]

Okay. It will have to be quick.

[Chief Troy Knowlton]

At the end of the day, the federal government and the Blackfoot nations signed onto a treaty in 1877. Alberta came into Confederation in 1905. Our agreement is not with the province. In terms of anything that happens on the federal lands, what part do we feel the federal government ought to play? You ought to be behind us or in front of us or beside us in any battles that we're going to have with Alberta. That's federal jurisdiction. Your obligation, the fiduciary responsibility of Canada, is to protect the first nations you signed treaty with. If that means opposing Alberta, which we know is going to happen, then we have to fight this together.

This is why you're getting support for Bill C-61. It's because we know darn well what Alberta is going to do and what their next steps are. They don't have to announce it. We know. That fight is going to take place, I guarantee you, within the next year.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Jamie Schmale]

Thank you very much.

We go now to the Liberal Party for their six minutes.

Ms. Atwin.

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you so much to our witnesses for being with us today. This is critically important testimony. It will absolutely inform our work moving forward.

I really take note of the stronger language that's required and the lack of trust around the terminology of “best efforts”. I really take that to heart, along with recognizing the human right to have access to clean water.

I represent the riding of Fredericton-Oromocto. It's in New Brunswick. It's in the territory of the unceded, unsurrendered Wolastoqiyik people, the people of the river. The multijurisdictional reality for me is critically important. It's interprovincial. It rolls into the United States as well. I'm also very interested in seeing this bill proceed. Again, there are reluctant provincial governments that we often have to deal with. It's been a roadblock for many for far too long.

I would like to turn my attention to the Atlantic First Nations Water Authority, because, again, it really concerns the communities I represent.

You signed an agreement with the Government of Canada in 2022 that involved a 10-year funding commitment for operations and capital programs. Now that this decades-long funding commitment has been made, how has that changed the approach to supporting and overseeing water systems and operations for the communities served by the authority?

[James MacKinnon]

I really appreciate the question.

I would say that the change has been truly systemic. I would start with the decision-making on funding for capital projects. That would go directly to our board of directors instead of an application to ISC. We've been able to implement a long-term strategic plan for the infrastructure in our communities.

The other side of it is that we have the dedicated increased funding for operations and maintenance. When a community becomes a member of the AFNWA, their operations staff become our employees. They are supported by our engineering department, our technical staff, as well as our back-office HR department. With the increased resources, we're able to support the operators on the ground but also implement our long-term strategic infrastructure plans.

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

A news release that accompanied the agreement mentioned, “The service delivery transfer agreement sets out both [Indigenous Service Canada's] and the AFNWA's mutual obligations, accountability, and understanding for implementation.”

It essentially has this shared accountability baked into the agreement. Can you speak to how that's also helped support operations?

[James MacKinnon]

When we signed the service delivery transfer agreement, we received certain responsibilities that used to be Canada's. All policy administrative work with water and waste water comes directly to us.

We are accountable to Canada through our funding agreement. Of course, like any not-for-profit would have to, we report on our funding, but we're more accountable to our communities. We give annual reports based on what the quality of water has been, what the infrastructure updates have been and what's going to be a plan in the future.

That shared accountability has really kind of empowered us to move forward on upgrading the infrastructure.

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Excellent. Thank you very much.

Dr. Martin-Hill, I'd like to address some questions to you as well. I really appreciated the idea of centring women in the work that you do. I think that's critically important.

Given your extensive work in this field, how do you envision the structure and role of the first nations water commission, which is a really essential piece of this legislation?

[Dr. Dawn Martin-Hill]

We worked with the Canadian water agency to look at ways to engage indigenous women. If you know anything about the new stamp that just came out honouring Josephine, women have been trying to have their voices heard regarding water for some time. They largely have not been at the table in their own communities, including me.

We tend to do the work on the grassroots level. We improve services. We ensure that elders have water, but we're not at the decision-making table.

When I visited the ANC in South Africa when they first came into power, I visited the land claims commission and water commission there. They ensured that all committees had 50% women at all tables at all times. I think that's a good standard to go by.

As a matriarchal society, we would be the ones in control historically, especially of water, and the men would be supporting our decisions. Because of colonialism, we tend to have been pushed into the shadows along with youth, who are desperately needed in training.

We're trying to develop a research institute to train our young people because they're going to be inheriting quite a mess, if you will. The Grand River has over 100 dams. It's our source water. It has 100 years of contamination from Uniroyal, which made Agent Orange and other things.

We really have a big job and we're not preparing this generation, either indigenous or non-indigenous, to work together to improve the quality of our source water.

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Thank you very much.

My time is winding down, but just a note on the dams. Again, the Wolastoq River has been dammed and choked off for decades now. My stepfather is the Wolastoqey grand chief of the territory and his role is to look after the water. His grandfather just always referred to them as the damn dams.

Thank you very much for your testimony today.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Jamie Schmale]

Thank you very much, Mrs. Atwin. You're 15 seconds early.

We'll go to the Bloc Québécois for six minutes, please.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank all the committee members. Today's meeting shows how thorough we can be in this study. I would also like to thank the witnesses for their patience.

Ms. Martin‑Hill, in your opinion, should a system be set up to log water quality in real time? Should it be available to the public?

[Dr. Dawn Martin-Hill]

My apologies, I didn't get any translation.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Have you selected the English channel?

[Dr. Dawn Martin-Hill]

It's on channel 1.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Jamie Schmale]

We'll check and suspend quickly. Just hold tight here.

We'll come back in session.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

May I continue with my question, Mr. Chair?