Thank you.
Good afternoon, honourable members of the standing committee.
My name is Robert Louie. I'm speaking to you today as the chairman of the Lands Advisory Board, representing the framework agreement on first nations land management across Canada.
We work with first nations across Canada to implement self-governance and to do away with a large portion of the Indian Act. Our first nation communities pass land codes and take over jurisdictional control of land management.
For the most part, the land code and self-governing process has been extremely successful. We have many first nation success stories in economic development; however, there remain barriers that need to be overcome for self-governance and economic development to properly occur and to gain full momentum.
I will speak to five of these barriers.
First, there is confusion over the framework agreement and the legislation. The framework agreement was a 1996 government-to-government agreement entered into between first nations and Canada that sets out the principles for land management self-governance to occur.
In 1999, the government passed the legislation, and the intent therein was to simply ratify the framework agreement. Unfortunately, government drafters either put in extra wording or omitted wording contained in the framework agreement. This has consistently caused confusion and clarity interpretation differences to this day. We have worked with government to draft replacement legislation and expect it to be tabled in Parliament relatively soon. Once the legislation is tabled, we ask for all-party support to approve it.
Second, there are enforcement issues. While the federal government has recognized the authority of first nations to enact their own laws, there is no federal co-operation to enforce them. This includes federal and provincial court adjudication and prosecution. Government has not to this date fully directed the enforcement authorities to enforce first nation laws. This needs to be remedied. The RCMP has refused to enforce first nation laws, which has frustrated many first nation communities. Court adjudication and prosecution of first nation laws have been unnecessarily absent.
We have had meetings with various provincial attorneys general, parliamentary standing committees and relevant federal ministers; however, this process has been moving along very slowly. Toothless law does not support business or investment. Any recommendations you may make in your report to speed this process up would be sincerely appreciated.
Third, we have land registry issues. The existing Indian lands registry system, including the first nations land registry regulations, is outdated and needs a major upgrade. It is a deeds-based registry that doesn't formally guarantee ownership. There is a lack of consistent document standards and cadastral data that backs land tenure. This, in turn, limits capital and borrowing options and prevents title insurance options.
We have been working in partnership with the B.C. Land Title and Survey Authority for more than a year to establish a modern and independent first nation-operated land registry system that will remedy this situation. We are seeking the support of Canada for this proposal.
Fourth, there are Indian Act legacy issues. There is a huge backlog of outstanding cadastral data and survey uncertainties that need to be resolved. There is a large number of contaminated sites on reserves that require remediation. There are outstanding wills and estates issues going back many decades that need to be resolved. We need significant government attention and investment to resolve these outstanding barriers to economic prosperity.
The last issue is additions to reserves. Many first nations have lands that are waiting to be added back to their reserves. The additions to reserves process has been mired in complicated, decades-long, expensive and unnecessary policy. This needs to change quickly in a major way so that first nations can generate much-needed revenue. Hundreds of millions of dollars in untapped economic development opportunity have been lost.
This concludes my presentation.
Thank you, honourable members, for allowing me to speak.