Good afternoon.
I am Manny Jules, chief commissioner for the First Nations Tax Commission. I was also chief of the Kamloops Indian Band from 1984 to 2000.
Thank you for the invitation to appear before this committee as part of your lands back study, specifically the examination of economic growth opportunities possible within Canada. In that regard, I wish to present some proposals on how to speed up the land back process and ensure that the returned lands are productive.
First, I have some historical context. In 1927, first nations from British Columbia, some of whom were my relatives, travelled to Ottawa to argue that their title had been ignored and that they had been unlawfully dispossessed. The government responded by rejecting our claim and removing our ability to raise funds that defend our rights. As a result, it took 70 years before our title was recognized. We are dealing with the economic consequences of this unlawful dispossession. This is why I advocate for both the return of land and the fiscal powers attached to it.
We have found in the past that it takes 10 times longer to facilitate an urban reserve than a municipal boundary expansion. Many of the lands we were allocated were not suitable for economic development or housing, as was promised under federal legislation. Our rights to access water, our riparian rights, were not properly considered. We have not adequately dealt with the reality that much of our lands are now held by third parties.
I have some concrete solutions to address these issues.
First, we need an orderly process for land expansion that accommodates population growth. My colleagues at the Lands Advisory Board are working on a new land title registry system. Their work should be enhanced by developing first nation institutional capacity to conduct our own assessments, appraisals and land surveys on current and added lands.
Today, returned lands must go first from the provincial Crown to the federal Crown and then from the federal Crown to reserve. The Lands Advisory Board initiatives and our proposed assessment and survey authority will allow lands to go directly from provincial title to first nation title.
Second, we need to ensure that returned lands have the fiscal means necessary to become investment ready. The tax commission has demonstrated that, when property tax and local revenue powers are in first nation hands, it becomes much more valuable and generates more revenues and economic activities.
This committee should support the ceding of more federal tax room to first nations. This would include the federal excise tax on fuel, alcohol, cannabis and tobacco. It could also include ceding the federal corporate income tax room to support the application of a proposed first nations resource charge. These revenues would ensure that infrastructure and services can be applied on the returned lands. It will free first nations from transfer dependency to respond more easily to changing opportunities and circumstances.
This committee should support the development of an indigenous trust that would help first nations buy back lands that are now held by third parties. There is a model for this in the United States that should be closely examined.
We should enable more regional economic co-operation between first nations and local governments by ensuring that the FNTC's protocol and service agreements are always available as necessary.
I should note that our model agreements were recently used by the City of Winnipeg and Treaty 1 on the former Kapyong barracks lands. Kapyong will be the largest urban reserve in Canadian history and, with the support of our models, one of the best service agreements in the country. The success of this approach needs to be publicized. This committee should advocate for the expansion of FNTC's capacity to support service agreement negotiations.
This committee should also support the expansion of the Tulo Centre of Indigenous Economics. An expanded Tulo centre would provide more accredited training and capacity to support interested first nations and local governments. This would support better, faster service agreements, and it would help align first nations and municipalities around the shared goals of enhanced investment, service efficiencies, improved infrastructure and improving a regional quality of life.
To conclude, I believe these proposals would significantly speed up the land back process and provide opportunities to urban first nation persons. This would be a benefit to all Canadians.
Thank you very much.