Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you once again, Minister, for appearing.
As you said, Minister, you're here speaking to Bill S-16, an act respecting the recognition of the Haida Nation and the Council of the Haida Nation. I just have a question based on an article and concerns, I guess, in British Columbia. It's an article titled “B.C. formally recognizes Haida Nation's Aboriginal title to Haida Gwaii”, from April 14, 2024. I'm going to take some excerpts out and then ask you a question.
The agreement includes a commitment from the Haida to leave privately owned lands unchanged and under B.C. authority. Governance over the existing Crown land tenures and protected areas will now be negotiated in a process that must reconcile Haida and provincial law....
The agreement, which has been approved by the Haida Nation and will be enshrined in provincial legislation, says that Aboriginal title will not affect anyone's private property, nor local government jurisdiction and bylaws on Haida Gwaii. It also says public services including highways, airports, ferry terminals, health care and schools will not be affected. Residents will continue to receive municipal services and pay property taxes in the same way they do today....
A leading expert in Indigenous law in Canada, Thomas Isaac of Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, said the agreement creates more confusion for landowners on Haida Gwaii than the lingering uncertainty of the pending title case.
“The Crown is recognizing Aboriginal title over every square inch of Haida Gwaii. What we know from Supreme Court of Canada case law is that Aboriginal title is the exclusive right to land. At the same time, fee simple, privately owned land is the exclusive right to land. You can't have two exclusive rights to a single part of land”.....
What the president said previously in this committee, just minutes ago, was that he wanted to bring clarity to this issue. To bring clarity, Minister, can you speak to the concerns of private property owners that the Haida agreement has provisions that include a recognition of Haida title over fee simple lands?