Again, I just want to acknowledge that deep distrust of the federal government by first nations is not unexpected. In fact, we should all understand that it's a by-product of colonialism.
What this bill is trying to do is change the way we create legislation and the way we decide, for example, on funding models to be inclusive of first nations voices. This could be a path for the country. I hope it is a path for the country in bringing first nations voices into all of the legislation we debate in this House, because in fact they are an important partner in the work of building this country and protecting our beautiful natural resources.
Thank you for the question. I would just say that what this bill does is remove an arbitrariness of funding from the federal government. Now, that's a strange thing to say as a minister of the Crown. I'm sitting here as a minister of the Crown, representing the federal government, yet I'm advocating a framework that says that Canada can no longer arbitrarily decide, in a silo, alone—regardless of need, regardless of actual facts, regardless of science and figures—what first nations should receive to operate their systems fairly.
Rather, the federal government must work with first nations to co-develop funding models that will help them achieve their own regulations that must meet—or beat, by the way—provincial standards. First nations will have standards of water quality like everyone else in this country and the fiscal firepower to be able to achieve that.
This is revolutionary. We've not done this in this country. To be here saying to you that the Government of Canada commits to do so through this legislation should give you pride as members of Parliament, because it is the first time the Government of Canada has ever proposed something like this.