Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Morrice, for joining us.
We did. We heard significantly, from many of our witnesses, about the term “best efforts”. I, too, kind of question that language—where it's coming from and what the intentions are. I also completely understand the distrust that exists, of course, among first nation communities and membership, regarding relationships with the government as a colonial entity.
However, I have come to learn, through legal precedent, that “best efforts” is actually the strongest language we have to ensure that what we want to achieve in Bill C-61 is met. Therefore, I think it's stronger to keep “best efforts”. I worry that removing it actually weakens things, because it's not covering all the bases to ensure it is met.
We also have the piece around human rights in the bill, as I mentioned before. It's an additional layer. I'm concerned that will force the Government of Canada to intervene on first nation lands in situations that would be best left to specific first nation communities. On surveilling those specific buildings you're mentioning...I'm just not sure about the mechanics of that and what that would look like. Again, I go back to the idea that “best efforts” is the strongest possible language we have in legal terms today.
I hope I'm getting that correctly. Maybe I could refer to our legal expert here and the officials.