Thank you, Mr. Chair.
There's been a lot of conversation back and forth among stakeholders and parties on this.
There are three challenges with protection zones, as I hear it.
The first is wanting to ensure we respect provincial jurisdiction and what the Supreme Court has said about co-operative federalism.
Second, there is a need to ensure we respect the articles of UNDRIP. I'm looking at the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It's not just talking about free, prior and informed consent. There is article 3 on self-determination, paragraph 8(2)(b) on dispossessing them of resources, article 25 on the spiritual relationship to water, and article 29 on environmental protection. In all of UNDRIP, there are a lot of different articles that talk about protecting water sources and connection to that water.
Third, we heard from first nations that there is a challenge putting provincial agreements in place. The provincial governments can drag their feet or stonewall first nations, so there's never an actual time frame for getting this started.
Based on those conversations, we had some discussions back and forth. We want to respect provincial jurisdiction and first nations' commitments to UNDRIP by putting in a time frame. That's in the following subamendment I put forward. It was circulated at 4:33 p.m.
It says:
In relation to a regulation made under subsection (1), the Minister must make best efforts to begin consultation and cooperation to enter into agreements with First Nation governing bodies, and the governments of provinces and territories in defining “protection zone” no later than the last day of the sixth month after the month in which this section comes into force in a manner that is guided by the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and respecting provincial and territorial jurisdiction.
That's the subamendment we have. I invite discussion. I also invite my colleagues to check with our stakeholders at AFN to find out whether they are okay with this as well.