Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on June 18th, 2025

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes, ON]

One was the taxation study. It was on the excise tax, and others.

[Brittany Collier]

The committee held several meetings on that study and did not provide drafting instructions to the analysts.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

Is that something we can look at again in the fall?

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes, ON]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

That's fair enough.

Go ahead, Brendan.

[Brendan Hanley, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Could you clarify what you would anticipate being involved? Would the second one be just for drafting instructions, and the procurement study would be further...? Are you talking about further witnesses, etc., or—

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes, ON]

On the excise tax, I think it was just drafting instructions. In my mind, we had given drafting instructions, but clearly I was confusing it with another study.

I'd like to give drafting instructions to get that completed and taken care of.

On the procurement one, I believe we gave drafting instructions, but we didn't go much farther.

[Brendan Hanley, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Okay.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Again, congratulations on being chair, and congratulations also to the vice-chairs who have just been elected.

Is it the plan to adjourn for the summer in a few minutes?

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

Yes, this would be our final meeting until the session in the fall.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

I think that's unfortunate. I think Canadians saw us just get back to work, especially at INAN.

I've just spoken to the miners up in Yukon, and they're having significant mining issues around permitting in the federal government.

Nunavut still has the highest rate of core housing need in any province or territory. Approximately 49% of families in Nunavut are unable to affordably secure market housing, and 80% of families can't afford to purchase a single detached home in Nunavut.

In the Northwest Territories, the economy is in a significant downturn and going over a cliff. Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction are down 16%. Construction is down 43% and the energy sector is down 54%.

I would hope that when we got back to Ottawa—as we did, and we're having our first meeting—that we would continue through summer and get some of these significant issues addressed. I think it's unfortunate that this Liberal government wants to adjourn for the summer and go on holidays while these issues still exist.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

Jaime, go ahead.

[Jaime Battiste, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso—Antigonish, NS]

As much as I'd like to get into debate and discussion that get right into the mix of the work we have in store, I thought we had a really good practice the last time we opened up indigenous and northern affairs—not only for the new members, but for the clerks and the staff working around that.

We're going to be spending the next two to three years, potentially, talking about indigenous people in Canada, and many of us don't know the true history of indigenous peoples in this country. One of the amazing things we did last time was start this committee by making sure that we had a base understanding of indigenous history. We asked to do a session of cultural sensitivity training, like a KAIROS blanket exercise for all of the members, clerks and staff in camera at the very first meeting, so that before we start talking about the problems we have in our ridings, we ensure that we're doing it in a good and culturally sensitive way.

I thought that was a really strong way to start the committee and I would ask that we do it at our first meeting when we get back. I know I'm not going to table a motion now, because I have to give 48 hours' notice and we'd never put the chair in a position of having to rule on anything like that, but I just wanted, with the intention of my colleagues being there, to say I'm hoping we can start the first meeting in a good way with the cultural sensitivity training and the KAIROS blanket exercise. I'm asking that you give that some contemplation over the summer.

I'd be more than happy to talk with the vice-chairs and you, Mr. Chair, about how we can formulate what studies and motions we choose to move forward with, because I agree that we had a rotation. I would disagree that it didn't matter what the subject was. I think the subject had to be something that we all thought was important to indigenous people in Canada, and then we had a discussion on it.

I'd hate to ram through things that we don't have consensus on as things that are pressing for indigenous peoples in Canada. I think good dialogue on that can happen after we figure it out and do cultural sensitivity training.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

I see Brendan and then Sébastien.

[Brendan Hanley, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Thank you.

I agree with Jaime. I also wanted to thank Mr. Zimmer for bringing up a number of really important issues for the north. I think there are no end of pressing issues for indigenous Canadians and and northerners alike.

I think we all hope for some rest and that we should take some rest over the summer when needed, but more importantly, I'm looking forward to really important conversations in my riding and around the north. We have Bill C-5. Important conversations are to take place about building Canada strong. In our own context in the Yukon, we'll have a new premier. We have an upcoming election. We'll have a new grand chief.

These are really important conversations that I look forward to having before we set ourselves up in a good way to have studies that address some of the priority issues for northern and indigenous Canadians.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

Jamie and Jaime mentioned the subcommittee. That was part of the routine proceedings. We have a subcommittee that can deal with a lot of this conversation that we're having right now over the summer, but we can talk about things and start to get things going.

Sébastien is next, and then I see Jamie.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I encourage us to maintain the co-operative climate that we've fostered over the past few years, which is heavily inspired by indigenous peoples. With that in mind, I think we can consider that we're currently discussing committee business.

First, I support my colleague Mr. Battiste's idea of starting in the spirit of training. I think we can formally adopt that today.

Second, I'd like to put forward some other things to consider, since summer is starting. I think our analysts were eager for the prorogation to end and for the election to be held so that they could start working. There is work that could be done over the summer. I'm thinking specifically of the two studies proposed by Mr. Schmale, and I'd like to propose a third to be completed. I don't actually want us to do it over again and invite new witnesses, but the work that has already been done could be made into a report. The communities that appeared here shared their thoughts, and it's important for that to be made into a report.

There are two other topics on which I'd like work to be done over the summer so that we're ready when we return. If my colleagues agree, I invite us to do that work. If that needs to be debated, I'll give notice of a motion to that effect, and we can debate it in subcommittee or later on. If everyone agrees to work over the summer, I'd be delighted.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

If we're going to start bringing forward new motions, then we need 48 hours, because that would be substantive and wouldn't.... That certainly can be done, and we still can talk about it over the summer and how we're going to program everything into place as well.

I have Mr. Schmale and then Mr. Battiste.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes, ON]

Chair, the first part I was going to talk about is the training. I think we're on side for that. If there is a way to get unanimous consent and get this rolling so that our analysts and the team have the chance over the summer to set everything up and get everything rolling rather than wasting time, it seems like everyone around the table is fine with that and that there is unanimous consent for that motion. Maybe we can do that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

We'll try to get that done.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes, ON]

Okay. I'll deal with that and I'll go on to my second thing.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

That is for the fall, at the first meeting after we come back. I believe that is what we were saying.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes, ON]

That's perfect.

On the second part, Jaime, we did allow the rotation. The topics were decided upon by the individual parties. I know that you did disagree with that in the last Parliament, but unfortunately, we, the Bloc and the NDP all thought we should be able to choose our own topics. I guess it'll be up to the committee to decide if we do that again or not. Yes, we are prepared with some ideas, but again, we'll deal with that maybe when we get back.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

Okay.

Jaime, go ahead.

[Jaime Battiste, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso—Antigonish, NS]

I wonder if we can seek clarity from the clerks as to what we can do to get to some of these things that we didn't finish off in the last Parliament—like the reports—and what is possible for us to get done over the summer without getting into committee business or into any additional things that we have to do here through introducing motions. Is there anything we can do through the summer just to finish off some of the work that we've done in the past ?

I'd like to ask the analysts to give us just a little bit of feedback as to what we can accomplish over the summer without having to reintroduce motions and get into any kind of business outside of what we're doing here.