Thank you, Madam Chair.
The member raises a really important consideration for any indigenous government that's either negotiating or implementing a modern-day treaty. One of the limitations around the duty to consult is that, at the end of the day, the government still may make a decision that's contrary to the interests of the indigenous government. Despite their having laid out their case eloquently, emphatically and respectfully, the decision is still taken to proceed, and that, in our view, falls a little bit short of the whole notion in the UN declaration about the idea of “free, prior and informed consent”.
To me, that seems like a further step down the road to reconciliation than just that bare duty to consult that's shaped by common law, which, at the end of the day, may leave the indigenous government in a situation where it didn't agree strongly with the decision that was taken and felt like it had no recourse. I don't think that is conducive to reconciliation.
One thing that is another complicating factor is that, if you have a huge mineral development—for example, a large mine—it's going to be very difficult to claw the land back. That land is.... The interest in land has been granted, and the government is reluctant to change that at all.