Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on June 3rd, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

I call this meeting to order.

Good afternoon and welcome to the twenty-third meeting of the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs.

We are gathered here today on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe nation.

Today we begin our fourth study of arctic sovereignty, security and emergency preparedness of Indigenous Peoples.

On today's first panel, we will be hearing from Chief Paul-Émile Ottawa, Atikamekw Council of Manawan; Raymond Lamont, chief negotiator and special projects lead, Tsay Keh Dene Nation; and hopefully, our third witness, Debbie Lipscombe, executive director, Grand Council Treaty No. 3, who is not on yet.

I would like to remind you of the requirements of the Board of Internal Economy regarding physical distancing and wearing masks.

To ensure our orderly meeting, I would like to outline a few rules to follow.

Members or witnesses may speak in the official language of their choice. Interpretation services in English, French and Inuktitut are available for the first part of today's meeting. Please be patient with the interpretation. There may be a delay, especially since the Inuktitut has to be translated into English first before it can be translated into French, and vice versa. The interpretation button is found on the bottom of your screen in English, French or Inuktitut. If interpretation is lost, please inform me immediately. We will pause and try to fix the problem.

The “raise hand” feature at the bottom of the screen can be used at any time if you wish to speak or alert the chair. Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. If you are on the video conference, please click on the microphone icon to unmute yourself. For those in the room, your microphone will be controlled as normal by the proceedings and verification officer. When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly and, when you are not speaking, your mike should be on mute.

This is a reminder that all comments should be addressed through the chair.

We will begin this first panel. For the benefit of the witnesses, we will be giving you each five minutes to make opening remarks, after which we will proceed to questions. Without further ado, I would like to welcome our two witnesses.

I invite Chief Paul-Émile Ottawa, of the Atikamekw Council of Manawan, to speak first for five minutes.

Chief Ottawa, you have the floor.

[Chief Paul-Émile Ottawa, Atikamekw Council of Manawan]

I’m sorry, but we’re having a little technical problem. I can’t call up my text, and I really need it. I’m trying to connect to the network.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

I presume you’re referring to the text for your presentation.

For the benefit of everyone, if Raymond Lamont is ready, we will start with him.

Mr. Lamont, if you're ready, you have the microphone for a five-minute opening statement.

[Raymond Lamont, Chief Negotiator and Special Projects Lead, Tsay Keh Dene Nation]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for inviting Tsay Keh Dene to appear before the committee.

Tsay Keh Dene is a first nation with its main community at the north end of the Williston reservoir in north-central B.C. Tsay Keh Dene people are culturally and linguistically Sekani. Tsay Keh Dene is a remote community with access via a very long forest service road and a small five-seat airplane.

Today, I will speak about four key challenges and opportunities for Tsay Keh Dene, if time permits.

First is the Finlay Forest Service Road. The Finlay Forest Service Road is the longest forest service road in B.C. at more than 400 kilometres in length. The road is also the only road link to Tsay Keh Dene and Fort Ware, which is a neighbouring first nation community. Some parts of the road are a vital transportation corridor for industry, including mining and forestry. These are industries in which the first nations are increasingly participating despite many obstacles.

Unfortunately, the road was built to a very low standard and it has only been upgraded in small sections. The road is dangerous in many sections and has been impassable many times over the years. Like other years, an emergency was declared in 2021 by Tsay Keh because the road was impassable. The community was within days of a food shortage and a lack of fuel for the diesel generators that power the community. Despite all of this, in 2021 the auditor general of B.C. cited the critical importance of the road as the only viable escape route for indigenous communities when natural disasters occur.

To finally address these challenges, Tsay Keh established a solutions table that included the province, industry and the first nations. Engineering reports and budgets were produced and we agreed on a plan. However, we need $40 million to carry out critical upgrades and repairs to the road. We believe B.C. will provide half, or $20 million, if we can persuade Canada to provide similar funding. We ask that every effort be made to identify sources of federal funding to augment the provincial funding. This is about safety, equity, improving the quality of life for remote indigenous communities and their residents, and promoting investment and economic development in the region and indigenous communities through safe and reliable road access.

The other topic I want to speak about is wildfires. Wildfires are increasing in number and severity in Tsay Keh Dene territory, due in large part to the effects of climate change. The community is especially vulnerable to wildfires due to remoteness, lack of a wildfire response capability, large swathes of dead and dying timber caused by infestations and poor forest management practices. The community is increasingly concerned about the growing danger of catastrophic wildfires that threaten life and property. In 2021, Tsay Keh Dene homes and cabins were destroyed by a wildfire that was not actioned quickly by the province because of inadequate resources and the sheer number of fires.

Sadly, Tsay Keh is woefully unprepared and ill-equipped to respond to wildfires when they occur and accordingly Tsay Keh is anxious to develop its own wildfire monitoring and response capability. This role is not only vital to Tsay Keh Dene's safety and security and consistent with UNDRIP and efforts to advance reconciliation, but it also recognizes Tsay Keh's inherent role as a steward of the lands and resources in its territory. The challenge for Tsay Keh is in securing resources for training and equipment. We ask for assistance in securing the resources needed to incrementally develop a wildfire response capability and in doing so mitigate the growing risk to the community and its residents from wildfire.

The other topic I wish to speak about is food security. Food security, including access to healthy and affordable food, is a growing problem in Tsay Keh Dene. Inflation, poverty and unemployment, widespread chronic conditions in the community, remoteness, the state of the Finlay Forest Service Road and the very high cost of transportation are all contributing to growing food insecurity. Malnutrition and poor diet among community members is increasingly common.

To compound this, country food is less abundant and the cost of harvesting country food has become very high. Moose numbers are declining, caribou are threatened and key species of fish that traditionally were a staple of the Tsay Keh Dene diet are less abundant.

Tsay Keh is adapting as best it can to these challenges. In the short term, Tsay Keh intends to build large greenhouses in the community to produce fresh fruit and vegetables. The community will be self-sufficient in fresh produce and is making arrangements to sell surplus produce to industrial camps in the region. The challenge is that power and heat for the greenhouses is prohibitively expensive.

To overcome this, Tsay Keh Dene will build and commission a biomass plant in the community to generate clean power and heat using wood waste, including debris from the Williston reservoir. NRCan and provincial funding have been obtained for part of the cost of building and commissioning the project. The engineering and design are advanced, but a shortfall of $9 million exists for the project. We ask for assistance in obtaining additional federal funding for the biomass project to build and operate a project that will be transformative for the community.

Finally, I want to speak very briefly about pandemics. COVID was devastating for Tsay Keh Dene. Several outbreaks occurred. People died, and many community members were evacuated from the community for medical care after becoming very ill. This experience has shown that, despite best efforts, Tsay Keh Dene is not well prepared to respond to pandemics. Lack of resources and capacity are the main reasons for this lack of preparedness. Poor housing, overcrowding, widespread chronic health conditions, poverty, poor health outcomes, limited health care services and general mistrust of governments have significantly increased the risk to health in Tsay Keh Dene from COVID and other infectious diseases.

This increased vulnerability is unlikely to improve without a substantial investment in local programs and measures designed to enable Tsay Keh Dene to promptly and effectively respond to pandemics. This includes a pandemic preparedness plan and the resources to implement that plan. We ask for assistance to secure the resources required to assist Tsay Keh Dene to effectively respond to pandemics when they occur and, ultimately, to save lives.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you, Mr. Lamont.

Chief Ottawa, have you found the text for your presentation?

[Chief Paul-Émile Ottawa]

Yes, I found it, Mr. Garneau.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Excellent.

You have the floor for five minutes.

[Chief Paul-Émile Ottawa]

[Indigenous language spoken.]

[Translation]

My name is Paul-Émile Ottawa, and I am Chief of the Atikamekw Council of Manawan in Lanaudière. I was first elected in 1999 and re-elected in 2018 for a sixth term. Today, I represent my community with honour to testify not only about our perception of climate change, but also our concerns.

I would like to thank the members of this committee, especially the person who invited me, Mrs. Gill, without whom I would not have been able to participate. I am honoured to be here to share with you how Arctic warming may affect my village, which is far from this beautiful region.

My village includes about 3,000 members, and like all remote villages, it is struggling with...

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Vanessa Davies]

Excuse me, Mr. Chair.

We no longer have interpretation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you very much, Madam Clerk.

We will pause briefly to solve the problem.

[Chief Paul-Émile Ottawa]

I will also speak more slowly.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you.

Please wait a moment.

[The Clerk]

It’s working now, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Very well.

Please continue, Chief Ottawa.

[Chief Paul-Émile Ottawa]

As I was saying, my village has about 3,000 members and, like all remote villages, it faces social challenges such as lack of jobs, recreation and housing. The latter sometimes leads to a difficult social climate, as our members often live with several families under one roof.

We are 85 kilometres by road in the forest of Saint-Michel-des-Saints, which means far from everything. We are also 270 kilometres from Montreal, 390 kilometres from Quebec City and 425 kilometres from Ottawa. These facts are significant, since we live in a remote village with a precarious access road; the slightest incident cuts us off from the world.

Why are the people of Manawan, who live far from the Arctic, concerned about Arctic glaciers melting? This concern stems from a report released by the Government of Canada in 2019 called “Canada’s Changing Climate Report.” The report does not give much hope for the future, and therefore for our children, if we continue to consume, overexploit wealth and destroy forests that give us life as well as all the animal and plant resources that allow us to feed ourselves. In fact, the report states that melting ice and glaciers are causing sea levels to rise faster in Canada than anywhere else in the world.

As a result, precipitation is increasing each year in the spring. This means that ice melts faster, rivers swell and water tables fill up more quickly. The temperature has risen by 1.1 degrees Celsius since 1948. This does not bode well for us, the Atikamekw of Manawan, in the coming years. If another increase of 1.1 degrees Celsius over the next 60 years comes to pass as predicted, lake and river levels will rise dramatically.

In fact, our village is in a basin on the edge of Lake Kempt. If the lake level rises, the water will not be able to drain away on its own. It will stagnate in the village, impossible to absorb. We will then have to be evacuated or even relocated. At the moment there are so many of us that even partial rehousing could take years, since we would have to rebuild. Given the lack of housing in the village, people would have no choice but to cram house with even larger numbers. Others would leave for the city, even if they don’t want to. Unfortunately, when families move to the city, children lose their culture. It is very difficult to return to the village afterwards and it undermines our social fabric.

However, this would not be our only problem. There would be a lot of fires. The forest would become parched, with drier summers because of the heat. In Manawan, we are surrounded by forest. The slightest spark could burn trees in the area, as well as our homes. Our fire department would not be able to save anything. We have only a handful of volunteer firefighters and we don’t even have a truck with a ladder. If our school caught fire with the students inside, the firefighters couldn't rescue those trapped on the second floor.

And because the road is bad and unpaved in places, we would not necessarily have the help of emergency services from outside, given the difficulties associated with transportation. Actually, if it rains too much, sections can be washed away. If it is too hot, the dust makes travel difficult.

Evacuating injured or disabled people would be another problem if such a disaster were to occur, as we only have one ambulance on site. If many of us had to be evacuated at the same time for our health, it would be a real logistical and health disaster.

Therefore, I am here to encourage governments to get ready to help not only those living near the Arctic, but also all inland indigenous peoples and communities. We will need help to fight climate emergencies, because all our communities are usually near a river or a lake.

Manawan should be a priority, for that matter, because of its location in a basin, since this makes the community vulnerable in the event of a climate emergency.

Thank you very much for your attention.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you, Chief Ottawa.

[Chief Paul-Émile Ottawa]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

We will now continue with the third speaker.

I understand Debbie Lipscombe is with us. She is the executive director of Grand Council Treaty No. 3.

Ms. Lipscombe, you have five minutes for your opening remarks.

[Debbie Lipscombe, Executive Director, Grand Council Treaty No. 3]

[Witness spoke in Ojibwa]

[English]

My name is Debbie Lipscombe. I am from the bear clan and my home community is Wauzhushk Onigum.

I'd like to acknowledge the members of the committee and other dignitaries here today. I appreciate the invitation to be here to speak to the importance and significance of the federal government and Anishinabe nation working together as treaty partners in Treaty No. 3 emergency management.

This parliamentary committee hearing is incredibly timely today. Across Treaty No. 3 territory, we are faced with historically high water levels that are only expected to continue to rise over the next few weeks. Currently, Grassy Narrows First Nation has been evacuated to Thunder Bay, and many other communities are partially evacuated and sheltering in alternative locations. Many Treaty No. 3 communities are also experiencing continued erosion, loss of land and infrastructure loss, such as our water treatment plant in Wabauskang. Several communities are likely to lose houses along the shoreline and even suffer intense damage to critical band infrastructure. The destruction of these homes comes on the heels of the current housing crisis.

In order to work proactively, Treaty No. 3 is currently undertaking GIS mapping of emergency areas and resources, and taking on flood vulnerability studies to inform future planning and water regulation. Evacuations of communities and people can be incredibly difficult for a community, and we are now operating in the second year of large evacuations. We had fires last year, and this year we're facing floods.

It's important to note that Treaty No. 3 territory extends over both Ontario and Manitoba. Treaty No. 3 has worked with our relatives in Treaty No. 9, Treaty No. 1 and Treaty No. 5 to put political protocols in place to support each other in evacuation scenarios. During evacuations, families and communities oftentimes want to go west, as opposed to east, in order to be with family, friends and other relations. For us, sometimes, there's a language barrier when our communities are evacuated to the east, as opposed to the west.

This can be difficult to resource due to federal and provincial regulations in border crossing and resourcing. Even as we work together through funding and emergency management, Treaty No. 3 still needs further expertise, infrastructure and resources to plan for future events. Flooding continues to demonstrate the importance that, as treaty partners, the Anishinabe nation and Treaty No. 3 are equal partners in decision-making in water regulation management.

We are not merely an interest group that can continue to take the brunt of the negative impacts of these conditions, which impede our inherent and treaty rights. It is through the harmonization of our traditional laws and knowledge with western science that we can continue to build upon the relationship, as outlined in the treaty.

I thank each of you for being here and I appreciate my time to share experiences with you today.

Meegwetch.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you, Ms. Lipscombe.

We'll now proceed with a first round of questions, beginning with—

[The Clerk]

Sir, I sent you a text message. Mr. Lampreau has joined us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Very good. Is he ready to speak?

[The Clerk]

I believe so. He's in the panel and I promoted him to be a speaker.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Very good. Thank you very much. In that case, we're combining our two meetings.

Mr. Lampreau from the Shackan nation, you have five minutes for your opening remarks. Go ahead, please.

[Chief Arnold Lampreau, Shackan Indian Band]

I value your time at the House of Commons and thank you very much for letting me appear today.

My name is Chief Arnie Lampreau. I'm from the Shackan Indian reserve out of Merritt, the Scw'exmx nation. Our reserve lands have had devastation in the last year—fires and floods, of course COVID, and the discovery of the 215 out of Kamloops, which I'm a third-generation survivor of.

More importantly, today is about our membership, the loss of land and the costs of repairing it, because of the devastation from the fire causing some of the mudslides and the little bit of damming that's happening within the Nicola River. What we're looking at in the future is for some additions to reserve lands and also some more infrastructure for firefighting, etc.

With a lot of these things that have happened in this short while, a majority of our people were never ready for this. We have talked to the Province of British Columbia, and they have enacted an alert now, which is great.

I'm at a loss for words. I would like to say that our people have gone through a lot of hard times in the last year. I'm presently at a meeting in Vancouver with the UBCIC today, so I'm a little bit distracted. I apologize for that. There are a lot of other issues on my mind right now.

Seeing the interaction with the Prime Minister at Kamloops and the announcement of the Pope coming to Canada spark a lot of different issues for our people, as far as how we've been opening up a lot of different things in our hearts and minds. As far as the emergency part, we're looking at more training for the ESS and EOC, different objectives like that, to make our lives a bit safer and to give us a little more comfort within our homelands.

That's about all I have to say, other than I would greatly like to have some help as far as looking at safer lands for our people. Our people right now, with the lands that have washed away, basically that's what sustained us. It was about 20% of the whole IR#11, which is basically the river bottoms of that reserve land. It's gone. It's going to cost millions and millions of dollars to protect.

Thank you for your time. I appreciate everything that's happening out there in Canada.

Thank you for allowing me to have a bit of say from our little Shackan Band. Today is 200 and something days since I have been evacuated. I'm still not home. Another councillor of mine is still not home. We're still living in the Trans Mountain pipeline camp. We have been there for over 200 days. We definitely miss home, looking at housing shortages and different things like that, which affect our communities.

Thank you for your time.