Evidence of meeting #99 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was communities.
A video is available from Parliament.
Director General, Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families Branch, Department of Indigenous Services
That's right.
Conservative
Director General, Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families Branch, Department of Indigenous Services
Since 2023.
Director General, Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families Branch, Department of Indigenous Services
That's right.
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
You're looking at 223 more being done. How long will that take?
Director General, Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families Branch, Department of Indigenous Services
That's a very good question. It depends on the pace at which communities wish to proceed, so this is in their hands.
Conservative
Director General, Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families Branch, Department of Indigenous Services
In section 20 of the act, there are two mechanisms for them to signal whether they wish to proceed to assert jurisdiction or whether they want to do it via a coordination agreement. They have those two mechanisms, and yes, that is under the community's control.
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
When you say 223 plus seven, that's 230. There are some 630 nations in the country. This will take a long time. We still have two-thirds of the nations that have not entered this process.
Director General, Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families Branch, Department of Indigenous Services
That's right.
Liberal
Liberal
Jaime Battiste Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS
Thank you.
In July 2020, the Assembly of First Nations and the Government of Canada signed the protocol concerning the implementation of An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families. Among other things, the protocol aims to “Inform a process for collaboration and cooperation with First Nations peoples on regulations supporting implementation of the Legislation”.
I have two questions on that. First, how are we ensuring first nations' participation when we're going through the initial stages of this process? Can you also talk to us a bit about why there's a need for regulations during this implementation? When does the department anticipate that the regulations will be developed?
Director General, Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families Branch, Department of Indigenous Services
Thank you for that.
I'll turn to my colleague Ms. Quintal.
Acting Director General, Strategic Policy and Planning Directorate, Department of Indigenous Services
Thank you for the question.
Regulations are a tool that can be used to reinforce some elements of the legislation. Other elements can also be developed outside of the regulation, whether they be guidance or policies, that will help this.
One of the elements we will be.... As you know, the legislation mentions that there is a mandatory five-year review. We will be engaging with partners at the community level, at the NIO level, and with provinces and territories to see what kinds of amendments or improvements they see for the legislation. Regulations will also be discussed in that engagement process. So far, what we have learned pertaining to regulation is that there might be a need pertaining to the minimum standards and their application, so we will see.
Once again, this is going to be co-developed, and it's what we hear from partners that will get moved forward.
Liberal
Jaime Battiste Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS
Does anyone else want to talk about the participation of first nations as part of this moving forward, the collaborative process?
Director General, Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families Branch, Department of Indigenous Services
Certainly, the legislation was co-developed. The plan is to continue the co-development of its implementation. That's certainly been our approach, and that's what we'll continue to do.
Liberal
Jaime Battiste Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS
You know, we have this Supreme Court ruling. We have funding in place. However, as was pointed out, the process is slow. How can we make sure that we're getting the funding to the communities that need it right now? I know that what the federal government does is not always a process of going fast. What can we do better to ensure that we're getting the money to the communities that need it? Is there a way we can make it more flexible for communities to access this money before they have to go through this? What are the obstacles that are there, and how can we make sure that we're getting the funding to the communities more quickly?
Director General, Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families Branch, Department of Indigenous Services
That's a great question.
My colleague referred to the five-year review of the legislation. I think the best answers to those questions often come from communities in terms of what they've learned along the way. Just recently, several months ago, Louis Bull Tribe hosted a forum on lessons learned about using Bill C-92 as a tool to enact jurisdiction. We are trying to make sure that we always listen to those lessons around whether capacity building is broad enough. Does it do enough? Does it answer all of our questions?
Also, we really see, as we often see with these types of initiatives, the strength of communities helping each other to figure it out—saying what they did, where they found it challenging, and what worked really well—to try to make that as smooth as possible.
Liberal
Jaime Battiste Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS
With that being said, would you say that there are some best practices out there with which nations or tribal organizations that have actually gone through this process and are now receiving the funds can help other nations along this journey?
Director General, Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families Branch, Department of Indigenous Services
Yes, absolutely. I think we've really seen that communities are starting to talk about wanting to have more opportunities to share those best practices. Those conversations are happening across the country. We hear that very frequently.
Liberal
Jaime Battiste Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS
Can you name a few, just if someone is watching and asking which community is getting this right? How have they been able to access the money so quickly?
Director General, Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families Branch, Department of Indigenous Services
I mean, I don't think there's any getting it wrong or getting it right. It's doing what makes sense in a given moment in time. I think we've seen huge success at Peguis First Nation around reducing the number of children coming into care. We've heard that from their leadership. I know that Louis Bull Tribe has been very happy to share its experiences around putting the act into place. I think Splatsin First Nation, as well, is doing a lot of incredible work.
Across those coordination agreements, we've seen tremendous success. What's really encouraging about it is the pace at which that change can happen when communities have been able to put this into action.
