Thank you very much, honourable member. This is a very good question.
The enforcement issue is a big issue. Let me put it this way. We have law-making powers. Government supported us becoming self-governing in our communities. Now, government can't just say, “Here are the law-making powers. We open this up for you.” We now need support for enforcement, and that support will help us to enforce our laws. Right now, the RCMP and provincial and other agencies are not stepping up to the plate.
Enforcement is a broad issue. You cannot have government—a successful government—toothless. You need a government that has powers that are backed up by courts. Right now, we have problems with the RCMP not backing up the laws that are being put forward, and they're significant laws, as well. They include trespass. They include private prosecution. They include community health matters related to COVID and things of that nature.
If the RCMP doesn't back up the laws, we have a problem. We have a problem with overall governance, because you cannot have a government that doesn't have the enforcement. You're going to miss out on economic development opportunities and all the other major things that happen. The stronger the government—particularly in law-making, with powers to a first nation to actually law-make and put jurisdiction and laws in place—the more comfort you're going to bring to those first nation communities, and support from financial banking institutions, investors and all that. It's a major problem.
I can give you all kinds of other examples that are happening throughout the country. Family courts in Ontario, for example, are refusing to apply land code laws when considering marital disputes. That stops land from being traded or dealt with, lessening our opportunities. We're seeing these issues arise, and it's a serious problem nationwide. We need government support.
We've started. We made overtures to this committee. We made overtures to the ministers and attorneys general. We are, in fact, working with various attorneys general. We have some pilot projects under way, but it's too slow. We need to get government serious enough to say, “Let's get enforcement in place, and let's support our communities.”
It's deterring other communities from wanting land codes because, if you have a law and the community finds out, “Well, gee whiz, how do we know we'll have enforcement?”, how do you get buy-in from community members? How do you get other first nations to want to participate? We know we can be successful with law-making, but we need enforcement backed up.