Qujannamiik, Iksivautaq.
Thank you to all of the witnesses for appearing before our committee on such an important matter.
I share the sentiments with acting Chief Betsy Kennedy on the sudden loss that we all experienced with the loss of Chief Merrick. She had such an important role, and for you to take on this role at this urgent time is much appreciated. Thank you for sharing your testimony as well.
I'm quite honestly frustrated with this committee, because we've been limited in our time to ask so many witnesses questions. I'm frustrated with this committee that we're trying to rush through as many witnesses as we can, especially knowing that out of the 634 first nations, only about 31% were consulted in the development of this bill.
In my eyes, this is not meeting the standard of the duty to consult. I think it is so important that we hear from as many witnesses as possible.
We had great testimony, for example, from Chief Trevor John, who shared very clearly what the concerns are around source water, jurisdiction and sustainable infrastructure. Those things in the bill are not clear enough, especially in this time when we all know that first nations managed water with their own laws before Canada stole your jurisdiction, and for them to try to hand it back in Bill C-61 is completely unacceptable.
We need to do a better job of ensuring that first nations treaties are being implemented and that first nations' human right to water is being upheld, and we're not seeing that in Bill C-61.
Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, congratulations on becoming the National Chief for the Assembly of First Nations. I wanted to point to the Federal Court case with Shamattawa First Nation, in which the federal lawyer, Scott Farlinger, at first acknowledged that there's been a historic underinvestment in first nations' water, but also shared his argument that “everything is better now”.
Can you respond to that, please, Chief Woodhouse?