Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on June 7th, 2022

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

First, let me thank all the witnesses for their testimony, which is very relevant to this study.

In his opening remarks, Grand Chief Fox stated that the government does not understand the reality of First Nations and their needs with respect to crises.

Can Grand Chief Fox elaborate on those needs and what the federal government needs to do?

[Michael McKay]

Did you want us to expand on the challenges, barriers and issues within our communities?

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

I would like you to tell us about the needs and what the government can do.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Your interpretation is correct. Basically, because you said that the government has not managed to do it yet, where are the challenges and what are your needs?

[Michael McKay]

As I previously mentioned, our submission that we prepared for today is almost looking at emergency management reform due to the fact that of our 49 first nations, 33 are remote, meaning they have only fly-in access year-round. We have a window of about one to two months when we have winter road access, during January, February and March, depending on the season and depending on how cold the weather is, when they can bring in deliveries of fuel for the year—diesel. A lot of our communities rely on diesel generators, and this is when they transport fuel, housing supplies and other goods and services.

These are just a few of the challenges our communities face. There are six winter road corridors. That's how large the NAN territory is. It's up to communities to maintain and build those winter roads with the limited funding they get. Those are just a few of the challenges that our communities face.

[Grand Chief Derek Fox]

I can expand on that a little. Obviously we've been preparing for this coming summer and season, and we're hopeful that the fire season is not as bad as it was last summer. Just working with tribal councils that have led this, we've heard certain tribal councils that are strong in response. You're never really quite as ready as you want to be, and the surprises and issues that arise that differ from year to year are vast.

The consistent issue, though, is that there's never preparedness. If a fire hits, a fire starts, and the community calls a declaration, you see it in the news. You see planes coming in and everyone's rushing, using vast resources to respond to that crisis and fly them out. Our leaders ask why the government is spending so much money on responding to this, when they should be investing in preparing for it. They'd probably save some costs if we were better prepared and they worked with us on a plan to ensure that we're ready for these crises.

They're only going to get worse. They're only going to increase. I think it's time for us to do something different and create some change within not just NAN but both levels of government, working together.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Several witnesses told us that many situations could have been avoided if preventive measures had been taken.

In your opinion, what role does prevention play in emergency management?

[Grand Chief Derek Fox]

When it comes to emergency response and these crises we see, I think prevention is the foundation of everything. It's just being prepared to ensure that, first of all, lives are not lost. We've lost people and we've lost young people.

The families get scattered throughout the province and even across Canada. We have had families in Saskatchewan. You have a community of 2,000 or 3,000 and there's only so many people who can go to one place. For example, Pikangikum is a very strong Ojibwa community that goes over to the Cree territory in the Timmins area. They don't have translators. There are just numerous kinds of issues like that. They get to the hotel and there are no translators or support services.

The townships are overwhelmed. The municipalities have to use their resources, their firefighters, their police officers and their child and family care workers. You name it and they're using all of their resources to support this. The cost just adds up. The ultimate cost is the loss of life, and we've endured that. We don't want to see any more lost lives, but it happens.

It's the foundation of emergency response. When we talk about preparedness and response, I think preparedness is so much more crucial and so much more important.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you very much.

We'll now go to our last questions, with Ms. Idlout.

You have six minutes.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Before I raise questions, I would like to welcome you all. Charlie Angus and Carol Hughes, who are members of Parliament representing Timmins—James Bay and Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, know you and send you their greetings.

I will ask Richard first of all.

Canada is a huge country. There's always been the issue of Arctic sovereignty. People from northern Quebec were relocated to the high Arctic for sovereignty purposes. After incidents like that, do you agree with how Arctic sovereignty has been addressed or not addressed in the past? What do you think needs to happen to assist Inuit who live in the Arctic, so that they will be included in the Arctic sovereignty plans and can participate?

[Richard Shimooka]

I really appreciate it, especially coming after the discussion on emergency preparedness, because I think that flows really well from the comments of the grand chief. Certainly I think they're all cut from the same cloth in the sense that the local, indigenous communities have that generational knowledge in a lot of cases and understand what their interests are, like the changing environment that they live in and observe. I think they're an incredibly important part, if not the most essential part, of providing sovereignty to some degree in this area.

It's easy enough for me to discuss the Canadian Armed Forces and talk about the grand strategic and security issues, but many of the issues are very local. They're very particular to whatever region you are looking at and to the people who are on the ground.

I would like to refer back to the previous panel, when Dr. Huebert discussed many of the same sorts of ideas. These have to be locally developed, identified and generated.

To answer your question directly, I think resources are critical. Concerns in the region and on the ground must be identified and addressed in full consultation and discussion with the communities to address those issues and address what sovereignty means in those localities.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

Thank you for your response.

I now have a question for Grand Chief Derek Fox and his assistant.

Your presentation was very understandable and interesting when it comes to having the proper resources and support to do the jobs that we must do. When you talk about incremental changes, from my understanding, do you feel that incremental changes addressing indigenous issues are not in line with reconciliation?

[Grand Chief Derek Fox]

I believe they are not in line with reconciliation. It has been many years. I only say that because, as I stated earlier, we've lost lives, and we continue to lose lives due to these circumstances.

We talk about reconciliation. In many ways, it means many different things to different people across the country, whether you're first nations, non-first nations, or Inuit. It has different meanings. The incremental change that has occurred has been much too slow for our satisfaction at NAN. We've just lost three young people, as I stated in my remarks, and we are unsure about the future, about this coming summer, and hopeful that we don't lose more lives.

Once again, it comes back to the preparedness and ensuring that the safety of our people is paramount. If our government wants to talk reconciliation, then let's start ensuring that lives are not lost anymore. That could have been prevented. The loss of those lives could have been prevented if our issues had been taken more seriously.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

You have one minute and 40 seconds.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

Could Richard also respond to this question? Do you agree that incremental changes addressing indigenous issues are not really in line with reconciliation? Would you respond to that?

[Richard Shimooka]

I think it depends on the topic. I definitely believe that in some areas incremental change isn't sufficient, and in some areas it is. It's much more extensive than the time I have here to start discussing. Certainly, in many areas incremental change is not, and we must go much further.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

I will ask Grand Chief Derek Fox a quick question.

What would you like to see as an improvement? What is the highest priority to you in terms of how we are going to work together in reconciliation and partnership?

[Grand Chief Derek Fox]

First of all, we would like to see a service for the north, a committee, as the member mentioned in a question earlier—a committee and a service to ensure we are prepared. That is why we are here today.

Of course, I can go on and on about reconciliation and the many things that our first nations people want as far as treaty recognition, our homelands, jurisdiction, ownership of our homelands and honouring the treaties.

With respect to this question, a great first step would be that service, ensuring that we have support from both levels of government and, of course, our many partners—municipalities, tribal councils, and neighbouring first nations—across the country, who have been there and who have taken our evacuees in,.

We are appreciative of the support that we have gotten so far, but it needs to be more than incremental. It needs to increase. It needs to be consistent with the changes that are happening with respect to climate change.

The things we're seeing in the north are things we have never seen before. You probably see it across the country. You probably see it across the world. The government needs to be consistent, or align itself, with what is going on in our territory, which is what's also going on throughout the world. This is huge. I don't know if those changes involve pollution, those things that are hurting our country and our world. I'm not sure, but action needs to happen.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you very much to our panellists, Mr. Richard Shimooka, who was with us virtually, and Grand Chief Derek Fox and his associate, Mr. Michael McKay, who were in the room with us.

We really appreciate your taking the time to come and see us and answering our questions as we continue our study on this very important topic.

Thank you very much for coming today.

With that, colleagues, we will now suspend briefly as we go in camera.

I just want to mention that I have to leave. Our first vice-chair, Mr. Schmale, will take care of the last 20 minutes or so, on committee business.

Thank you.

[Proceedings continue in camera]