I move that Bill C-61, in clause 21, be amended by replacing line 6 on page 13 with the following:
“protection zone” for the purposes of this Act. In making such a regulation, the Minister must consider how a protection zone is to be connected to First Nation lands.
The rationale behind this is removing that word “adjacent”, which I think has caused a lot of consternation with some of our witnesses—actually, many of the witnesses.
This still ensures that a protection zone must be connected to first nation land, but ensures flexibility in how they may be defined with first nations, provinces and territories. It's additional clarity, but it also ensures flexibility.