Tansi, edlanat'e, and good afternoon.
I am Michelle LeClair. I am the vice-president and minister of justice for the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan.
I am honoured to be here today to talk to you about Bill C-53. As a Métis leader, I know I am indebted to the leaders who have come before me, and some of you know of them, the late Jim Sinclair and the late Harry Daniels, among many others. Some of my earliest memories are of those leaders fighting for the recognition of our rights. Forty-one years ago, section 35 included Métis, first nations and Inuit people. One of the people who fought for those rights was Harry Daniels.
They fought for the recognition of our rights: our right to self-determination, our right to self-government, our right to raise our children and our right to thrive as a nation, the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan. Generation after generation, our leaders sacrificed everything to get to this point, and our government will work tirelessly to see this through. Our section 35 rights must be honoured and recognized.
As representatives of Canada around the table, you do not grant us those rights. These rights are inherent rights, and they were given to us by the Creator and by those ancestors who fought—and many died—to ensure that we had those rights. It is the duty of the Crown to recognize and uphold them. For more than 150 years of colonialism and oppression, our communities were divided and scattered, and still our people remained strong and united.
This is what many fail to grasp about Bill C-53. The Métis, of course, according to the Canadian Constitution under section 35, are one of the indigenous peoples. These three peoples have rights, and they always have. There is no hierarchy of rights or peoples in section 35. There are the first nations, the Métis and the Inuit. We are all equal under the law.
Canada must recognize our rights and negotiate with each of us in good faith. This is your duty. Mine is to sit here and remind you of your duty. I also want to remind you that section 35 is a full box of rights. It isn't up to other people to determine what those rights are. You don't get to pick our rights or choose the rights that we or other aboriginal peoples get; these are inherent rights. We all get the same recognition. We are all on the same footing.
Legitimate rights holders should not be pitted against one another. We would not tolerate it if this was attempted with our first nations and Inuit relations. All of you who represent Canada are bound to the honour of the Crown. It's your responsibility to build bridges and to create opportunities for everyone to thrive, not to divide and conquer.
To that end, we know that first nations in Ontario have voiced opposition to this legislation, and we acknowledge this. The MN-S has consistently advocated a process to defend the integrity of our nation. We have championed and advanced to all Métis nation governments an independent panel that would look at the root issue. This expert panel is our way, the Métis way, to address this in a responsible, transparent and objective way.
I am confident that the expert panel will shed some light on the concerns that Ontario first nations have. I am hoping that the chiefs of Ontario will attend, become part of that process and express their concerns to the panel.
I also encourage Ontario first nations to raise these issues with Canada.
During the treaty consultation process, all three treaties—MNA, MNO, MN-S—will be negotiated independently, and it's there, through that process, that the duty to consult will be triggered. MN-S is committed to ensuring that all impacted parties are consulted when we're negotiating our treaty. We assume that MNO and MNA will do the same.
The treaty process is Canada's venue to hear these concerns. Ours is in our expert panel. I encourage Ontario first nations to utilize both fully.
The venue for these concerns is not here, not regarding Bill C-53. Our legislation doesn't trigger the duty to consult. It lays the path to treaty-making and for Canada to finally recognize what we have always known.
We have never stopped and will never stop defending our rights, generation after generation. In this moment, I feel within me all of the lessons I've learned and every blood memory passed down to me from each of those leaders I talked about earlier. They prepared us for this moment. I promised them and our people that I will never stop until our rights are recognized.
Bill C-53 is your chance to build a lasting relationship, a nation-to-nation relationship, with Métis Nation-Saskatchewan. We're ready for this. The question is, are you?