First of all, I'm very grateful to sit here today addressing the Senate on such a delicate topic. My name is Okimaw Lewis and I am the chief of Onion Lake Cree Nation. I speak on the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Anishinabe and Algonquin nations.
We entered into Treaty 6 with the British Crown in 1876, before Alberta or Saskatchewan existed. Our ancestors would not have imagined these new levels of government or the impacts we see now when they entered into treaty. Our treaty guarantees our ability to continue our way of life—we in our canoes and settlers in their ships—without interference. Our treaty is unique. Two provisions are important for the discussion here today: the medicine chest provision and the famine and pestilence provision. These confirm the Crown's continued obligation regarding our health and our protection from starvation and disease.
Our access to a healthy abundance of water is essential. It is tied to those obligations and does not end at the reserve boundary. Our territory extends throughout the entire Treaty 6 area. Our reserve straddles the Saskatchewan-Alberta border, which creates additional challenges for my nation. Onion Lake has approximately 7,000 members and occupies approximately 156,000 acres of territory.
To be clear, we reject Bill C-61 in its entirety.
I will focus my discussion on five issues.
First is the breach of treaty and inherent rights. Water is sacred and essential to everything. Our relationship to water is not granted through federal legislation or agreements with provinces. This bill assumes that our authority over water is only on, inside or under our reserve lands. This bill downloads federal responsibility and liabilities under the treaty in the guise of self-government. It requires us to forgo our rights to source waters.
Second is the flawed consultation process. Several court cases deal with the duty to the Crown when consulting. Onion Lake Cree Nation has protocols outlining consultation and what requirements governments and industry must follow when engaging us through our own process. This has not been followed. Federal representatives from ISC and the DOJ were at this committee on June 12 describing the process that was used. They said they consulted with modern treaty, self-governing first nations and the AFN.
Onion Lake Cree Nation is an independent nation. We are not involved with the corporate body of AFN or any tribal council, nor do they speak on our behalf. AFN and other corporate bodies are not rights holders. They are corporate bodies. That modern treaty and self-government first nations will not be affected by this bill, so it doesn't make sense that they were consulted. Sending an email does not equate to adequate consultation.
Third is the jurisdictional problem. This bill is aspirational. Language like “reliable” and “assist First Nations in achieving the highest attainable standard” in clause 4 is meaningless. We do not need this two-tiered “let's try to do better” system that only transfers liability and responsibility to the nations using terms like “self-government”. We see the issue of dumping and contaminants in the water from development. This bill will not compel the province to do anything. Canada already has powers under the Canada Water Act, but it has failed to use them. The proposed commission and lack of details are scary. We are unsure about what authorities the commission will have, and whether it will make decisions related to the discharge of nuclear waste and other effluents in our water bodies and tributaries.
Fourth are the protection zones. The protection zones are also aspirational. They have no teeth, and we are not convinced these zones will be created according to our needs, or in time. They must be adjacent to the reserve. We hunt, fish, trap and gather in our territory. Animals, plants and fish do not stay in the reserve boundary.
These zones require agreements with provinces. They do not compel provinces or ministers to do anything. Protection zones and other legislation have not worked. Nations continually have to take Canada to court or wait 15 or more years for action.
Finally, water is a human right. The UN has recognized that water is at the core of sustainable development and critical to socio-economic development, energy, food production, healthy ecosystems and human survival. Water is also at the heart of adaptation to climate change. As the population grows, there is an increasing need to balance all the competing commercial demands on water sources so that we have enough for our own needs.
The bill does not recognize that right, nor does it include the World Health Organization's guidelines for water quality. The bill does not guarantee the protections and principles established under article 19 of the United Nations declaration.