Thank you for the question.
I believe that's a complex question that has complex responses and answers. Starting through the treaty-making processes, treaties were only for land, and those treaties did not contemplate land under water or water itself. Where Canada has failed, where the Crown has failed, over time, even in the division of powers, from the federal responsibility to the provincial responsibility, through that period of colonization, is that first nations people were not considered a people and were simply savages. Our first nations people were given the authority by the Creator to protect, for future generations, what did not belong to us.
When you speak to the Province of Ontario, the province really doesn't need to consult with first nations. It will say that first nations are that of a federal jurisdiction, and the provincial jurisdiction does not prevail. The provincial laws that are created don't go far enough to recognize the treaty and inherent rights, even to resources for that matter. Therefore, the protection zones that have been described by the Province of Ontario were described with no consultation with, or consideration of, first nations people. It was in those spaces that the context of that legislation was created without any opportunities for us. That again becomes that provincial jurisdictional imbalance, and both, I think, are equally responsible in not recognizing the inherent rights and jurisdictions of first nations people.
Thank you.