Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Sept. 16th, 2024

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

It's very clear. All three of you have talked about amendments. Because there have been legal actions or threats of legal action as the legislation sits today, would there be, in your opinion, legal action if it didn't get changed?

Mr. Paul.

[John Paul]

A legal option is always an option for somebody, whenever that is.

I believe it's critically important to get this done. It is now a priority to get it done. We should get it done, basically.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Thank you.

Vice-Chief Pratt.

[Vice-Chief David Pratt]

It's important we get it done, but we want to get it done right. The status quo is unacceptable. I want to commend the federal government for taking the initiative to try to fix an outstanding, long-standing issue within first nations communities across this country.

With the amendments made, I don't think there will be any issue getting broad or majority support for this to proceed. That's no disrespect to the committee that has been involved in this or to all the great work you've done. We acknowledge that.

Thank you.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Chief Whetung.

[Emily Whetung-MacInnes]

Thank you.

The question I would have is.... Litigation over legislation has never stopped the government before, and I watch litigation take place over all sorts of legislation. What comes to the top of my mind is the Indian Act and the Indian status provisions. I think every government for the last 30 or 40 years has had an opportunity and a court case and made changes to those.

I hate to think that good, acceptable legislation would be passed over because there might be litigation over it. If you can make the amendments quickly and pass better legislation, that's ideal, but I certainly hope the potential for litigation wouldn't stop the government from governing.

Meegwetch.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Thank you very much to our witnesses and to everyone who contributed.

Chief Whetung-MacInnes, it's good to see you again.

I know the importance of this conversation, and I'll be very quick with what I need to do here.

This is based on the conversations we're having today about the importance of Bill C-61 and based on the fact that we just had support for an emergency debate tonight in the House of Commons. Looking forward to the agenda for the first couple of months of this session of Parliament, I want to quickly read my motion and have a very brief discussion, if not a quick vote on this, if we can.

I think it's extremely important. I move:

That the committee invite the Minister of Indigenous Services Canada, the Minister of Northern Affairs Canada and the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations to appear individually before the committee for no less than two hours each, within 14 days of the adoption of this motion, in relation to their priorities for the return of Parliament and their mandates.

Thank you very much, Chair.

I apologize to our witnesses, but I think it would be nice to have the ministers here to talk about this and many more topics.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Thank you very much, Mr. Schmale, for providing 48 hours' notice.

Is there any debate on this motion right now?

Mrs. Atwin, you have your hand up. I'll turn the floor over to you.

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

For me, it's the timeline. We have urgency around Bill C-61. We have more witnesses we want to call and speak to, so it's that 14-day time period that's being presented. We will be hearing from the ministers on this bill. This is the minister's priority. I know that first-hand, as her parliamentary secretary.

I would be open to tweaking it. I don't think I can support it as it stands, because again, I see it as actually delaying our work on Bill C-61, when I know it is her priority to come and speak to us about it.

There are other opportunities that could come after Bill C-61. We would love to hear about those, as well as the estimates. I think that would be a better use of our time.

I wanted to put that out there for the committee to discuss.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Okay.

Are there any others who would like to get involved in the debate?

Mr. Lemire, you have the floor.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I also feel that the timing is off for this motion. I agree with my colleague Ms. Atwin that it is urgent to move forward with Bill C‑61 to ensure access to drinking water. On the other hand, it is also essential to have access to ministers to ask them questions about the government's priorities, particularly in the current context of the Canadian Parliament.

I would like to know whether we might agree to hold a meeting in which we could—

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Excuse me for interrupting, Mr. Lemire, but there is no interpretation. I will keep talking until the problem is resolved.

Okay. We're back.

Mr. Lemire, I'm sorry I interrupted you. Please start from the top.

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

No problem, Mr. Chair. By the way, your French is excellent. It's very nice to hear that around the table.

I was saying that this motion is a little premature, in my opinion. I agree that it is urgent to pass Bill C‑61, or at least to debate it and make the necessary recommendations to guarantee the supply of drinking water to first nations that do not currently have access to it.

I would like to submit an idea for discussion. Are the Conservatives open to the idea of the committee inviting all the ministers to appear at the same meeting? That way, we might waste less time. Actually, it is never a waste of time, obviously, because this is important. It is the very basis of the principle of accountability in our parliamentary system. That said, would all committee members agree to call all the ministers to a single meeting? I would like to hear from the Conservatives in particular.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Thank you, Mr. Lemire.

I see Ms. Idlout has her hand up.

I'll turn the floor over to you.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

Thank you, Chair. I agree with Sébastien and I agree with Jenica. Bill C-61—

[English]

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Pardon me, Ms. Idlout. I understand we're having some issues with the French translation.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Okay.

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

Shall I continue speaking?

[English]

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Please continue.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

I agree with people who are concerned about this issue. They want to see the ministers report to us about Bill C-61—

[English]

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

I'm very sorry, Ms. Idlout.

We're going to have to take a quick pause to make sure it's coming through in French.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Okay, Ms. Idlout, I apologize for this. Perhaps you could restart.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Thank you.

[Member spoke in Inuktitut]

[English]

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Pardon me. We're going to have to take a quick break again, because now we're not getting English translation.

We're going to have to take a quick suspension here.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Colleagues, I'm calling this meeting back to order. We were just in the midst of having debates on the motion that was brought forward by Mr. Schmale, and Ms. Idlout has the floor.

I'll turn it over to you, please.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Thank you, Chair.

Given the technical difficulties that we're having, I'll speak in English for now.

As I was trying to say in Inuktitut, I am not understanding the timing of this motion, given how important it is that first nations have been waiting for a bill like this. Given that there are too many boil water advisories, too many investments, too many of indigenous people's rights that are not being respected, to interrupt this important study didn't make sense to me.

However, based on my conversations with others, I am willing to consider an amendment to the motion.

Qujannamiik.