Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for being here. I appreciate your patience with us, as we ran over time in the previous panel.
I also appreciate you acknowledging the work of the committee here in listening to first nation voices. I think it's been very important. Frankly, I do think that we've all been working in pretty good faith to improve this legislation
It does feel like we are doing some of the consultation that could have been done prior to the development of this legislation. Minister, you've claimed this bill has been co-developed, I believe, or close to being co-developed. That was a term that you used, but we have heard from many first nations that do not feel that their voices have been heard on this.
Chief Sheldon Sunshine told the committee that “Bill C-61 garnered the support of only 100 out of 600-plus first nations”. The context of that was a discussion around the Assembly of First Nations.
We've heard some amendments that were brought forward. We've also heard from some chiefs and community leaders who want to scrap the bill altogether. On such an important topic, I think that is a shock to many. It is the reality of the situation that we are in because of such a lack of consultation.
Can you explain, Minister, how that consultation process went and why so many voices have been left out of it?