Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Oct. 24th, 2022

[Clarence T. (Manny) Jules]

You come from a province where the premier arbitrarily cancelled a tax-sharing agreement. What I'm proposing is a first nations resource charge so that these dollars cannot be arbitrarily taken away. There has to be a legislative basis to do that. What I propose is that first nations be able to benefit from all of the resources taken within our traditional and treaty territories.

[Jenica Atwin, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Thank you very much.

That's all from me, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you very much.

We'll now go to Madame Gill for six minutes.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all the witnesses.

My question is about women and is for Ms. Restoule. You mentioned them at the beginning of the meeting, and you mentioned them again. In fact, you said that economic organizations should be part of the council.

Do you also think an organization like the Native Women's Association of Canada should be on the council?

[Karen Restoule]

I understood your question in French, but I'm going to answer in English because the words escape me in French. My mother is francophone, so I know the French language very well.

I appreciate your recommendation. It's definitely difficult to start nailing down a list, because it forever grows. That's not to say that if someone isn't representative at the council, they aren't going to be contributing to moving forward on a solution. An oversight from the national organization, led by indigenous women, should absolutely be included.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Excuse me, Mr. Chair, but the interpretation isn't working in French. Maybe it's because we spoke a little bit in French with Ms. Restoule, but I still understood the meaning of her answer. I'll keep you posted, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Idlout tells me it's the same thing for her. Perhaps the answer should be repeated, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Ms. Restoule, could you repeat your answer to the last question? They didn't get the French translation.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

I'm so sorry, but it wasn't being translated into English.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Oh, I'm sorry.

All right, let's start over. Let's ask the question.

Please repeat your question, Mrs. Gill. I'll start the clock again.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Restoule, could you give me your opinion on including the Native Women's Association of Canada on the council, given that you'd like women to be represented?

[Karen Restoule]

My apologies. I think I threw off the room by speaking in French. It certainly wasn't my intent.

I agree. I recognize the role that the national organization has played with respect to indigenous women taking leadership and addressing issues that impact them. I put to you that the list that I provided is not exhaustive, that all organizations and indigenous peoples—including women—are working to be part of the solution moving forward and that absolutely NWAC should be involved in a more formal capacity, and I would recommend that they be invited to nominate a representative on the council.

Thank you for that.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Restoule.

I have a question for all the witnesses.

Mr. Clarence will be able to answer it first, since he hasn't had a chance to speak yet, but the question is also for Ms. Buffalo and Ms. Restoule.

We've talked a lot about the economy, and everyone talked about “economic reconciliation”. I'd like each of you to define that concept.

As you said, we want there to be sectoral representation on the council.

[Clarence T. (Manny) Jules]

Thank you very much for that question.

I spent a lot of time during COVID reflecting on what my elder leaders talked about. They talked about these very issues in the 1910s of the last century, and what they talked about was having a proper land base and access to all of the resources so we could share in the bounty of this land.

I also started to do research, as I mentioned in my presentation, particularly around an individual by the name of Duncan Campbell Scott. He's the individual who amended the Indian Act to take away our power and ability to have tax jurisdiction, and that fundamentally affected us to the extent that we're still dependent on the federal government for transfers for programs. Up until that point, we were independent; we had tax jurisdictions within our traditional territories here in British Columbia, and that fundamentally changed us from an independent nation to a dependent nation.

Thank you very much for that question.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Clarence.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Ms. Buffalo, it's over to you.

[Karla Buffalo]

Thank you for the question.

You know, I spoke a little bit earlier about what my views are regarding our region in terms of economic reconciliation of indigenous communities and governments, but I think there's another side to economic reconciliation, and that is about the role of corporations, governments and organizations and their commitment and action towards reconciliation.

I certainly know that over the years in our area, which has a lot of oil and gas, we have seen different levels of commitment and action from industry. It is the actions of those who have really taken this to heart and taken action by looking at partnership and investment with indigenous organizations and governments that really come together to allow economic reconciliation to occur within our region.

It's not only about indigenous governments having the funds to be able to direct their legislation policy and governance in communities; it's also about those companies having that direct top-down commitment to making real partnerships that are meaningful and that are long-standing when they are operating on the traditional territories of our indigenous people.

[Karen Restoule]

At the cut of it is that with a strong economy comes a strong social fabric, and that's the story where I come from. We've invested in fur trade—we almost put Hudson's Bay out of business—and timber, and most recently in our own hydro dam project. Leadership time and time again has focused on clear, tangible results in terms of our local economy, and as a result we've enjoyed that strong social fabric.

That's not to say we haven't dealt with legacy issues from the terrible federal policy—absolutely, we have—but given the nature of the entrepreneurship and the focus on the economy, we've exercised a resiliency that has allowed us to overcome challenges and to move through challenges in order to achieve our goals, our objectives and, most importantly, our outcomes and results.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Gill.

Now it's Ms. Idlout's turn. She has six minutes.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I thank all the witnesses. I like what I'm hearing, and the question I have is about the time before the missionaries came....

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Excuse me, Mr. Chair. There's no interpretation in French.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

I'm not hearing translation occurring. Is there a problem with the interpretation?

[A voice]

I cannot hear Ms. Idlout. There's something wrong with the audio.

[The Clerk]

I'm not aware of anything, sir.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Ms. Idlout, is your microphone on?

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Can I repeat my question in Inuktitut?