Thank you for the question. My apologies for missing the translation.
That's a very big question, but it is one that Canada should definitely be answering. I believe there are too many processes that have been put in place and the land restitution process right now is not equal.
Like Chief BlueSky had stated, they had an ATR in 1874 and it was quite easy. Now you have a process that was put in place that is so onerous. Many nations do not have capacity because of being inadequately funded, inadequate training and a lack of capacity of human resources.
You have this ATR process, where we have, in Saskatchewan in particular, first nations that bought treaty land entitlement 30 years ago and still that land is not reserve status.
I believe, as a treaty commissioner, that those processes were put in place to make it difficult for nations to be able to acquire land that they were entitled to by treaty and that is a continued breach of treaty. It's discriminatory. It was put in there on purpose. The land restitution is not equal when you have these processes in place to begin with.
When you have other treaties, modern agreements and other constructive arrangements being negotiated around all the indigenous people.... That's not to mention those things that a whole other standing committee should be looking at, which are the access to that land and resources being sold off in Crown land options, access to the land and resources that are underneath the existing land here, and the equity when it comes to resource extraction and who is benefiting from those resources.
No, the land restitution process currently is not fair. You're pitting indigenous people against indigenous people now with these agreements. Our Métis brothers and sisters and our first nations are going to be at each other's throats over land.
Canada is the one holding all the purse strings.