I believe I heard the term “independence”. I think the term is “self-determination”.
I was very deliberate in that clarification.
The path has been set through the Whitecap Dakota self-governance agreement that was put into law in 2023, if I'm not mistaken. That went through this committee. I forget the number of the bill. That was one of the first iterations of this, and this is following a very similar route.
I had the opportunity to meet with the Whitecap Dakota last week. There are other elements of self-determination that they're seeking. We're going to be commencing tables on discussions of those elements.
It's not necessarily novel. I think what is perhaps novel in the case of Haida Gwaii is that it is a very unique landscape. It's unmatched. There's nothing similar to that in the country. There are no overlapping communities or nations. In all senses, it was never ceded by any treaty or type of surrender. It's unique in that sense.
In terms of the governance piece, I think it's very similar in scope and action. I'm very confident that this is not a new precedent. It is something that we are very much following from the Whitecap.