Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Nov. 17th, 2025

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

Minister, I'll just interject.

I have the report from 2024. On one of the issues, it actually is saying that you're not addressing many of those concerns. Of 88 concerns brought to you, Minister, only 19 have ever been followed through on. How do you respond to that?

[Rebecca Chartrand, Liberal, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

I know that the cleanup of Giant Mines is important to you as well as northerners. As an indigenous person myself, I understand how important it is to ensure safety, not only for people and communities, but for the land and future generations.

I do want to say that I had the opportunity to visit Giant Mines during this summer. During that time—

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

Minister, I was asking a very specific question. We're seeing the majority of recommendations by the Giant Mine Oversight Board being disregarded by the project team. It seems like the minister.... It seems like a project that's run amok. Maybe, Minister, you could follow through and look at some of those recommendations that haven't been followed through on and see what you can do to remedy some of those local concerns.

There are also questions about where Giant Mine remediation project training dollars have been spent. The oversight board's 2024 report in front of me revealed that over 50% of reported training hours were logged by people with zero recorded work hours on the project. From the actual report:

Further investigation into the data has revealed that most training hours fall into an “other” category, where the training taking place is unknown or not reported. It was also discovered that over 50% of the reported training hours were logged by individuals who had no recorded work hours [on] the Project. ...It is not clear how the training dollars being awarded are being spent, nor what the education outcomes are in relation to the dollar value of this public funding.

Minister, how can Canadians trust Liberal oversight when public funds are wasted on training individuals who aren't even working on the project?

[Rebecca Chartrand, Liberal, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

I think that because it's a technical question I will refer to Georgina.

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

Actually, Minister, the question is for you. If you could please answer, that would be great.

[Rebecca Chartrand, Liberal, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Zimmer.

As you know, this is a technical question, but as I was saying earlier, we do receive quarterly tracking. That tracking includes specific data for suppliers, employment and workforce training.

I did visit Giant Mines this summer, and they did inform me about the training that is ongoing for northern and indigenous peoples, and we want to make sure that we make those commitments.

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

Minister, there's no doubt that we appreciate the training of northern peoples, especially with locals being trained to work at the Giant Mines project, but my question is on the 50% who are being trained and are not even working on the project. That's the question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

You have 30 seconds, Minister.

[Rebecca Chartrand, Liberal, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Zimmer, for that question. We both want to ensure that there's accountability and that's what our government is committed to. We do have 2,349 employees, so this is 26% who are northern—

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

Sorry, Minister, but I have to ask a quick question of Minister Alty while Minister Alty is here.

[Rebecca Chartrand, Liberal, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

—13% are indigenous and 17% are women.

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

Minister Alty, I have a question for you.

The Cowichan decision has made citizens of B.C. very uneasy, as it puts into question the ownership of property they paid for.

This is from Alexa Loo, a Richmond city councillor:

There are some companies, that were planning to do some building on their property, and their bank has pulled their funding because the title of the land is unclear. It's hard to do business [when] you can't secure a mortgage on your space.

The decision has economic development ramifications for your voters in Northwest Territories and, really, for voters across Canada. Do you agree with the Cowichan decision, yes or no?

[Rebecca Alty, Liberal, Northwest Territories, NT]

On September 8, the Government of Canada did appeal the decision. It's currently before the courts, and we are working with all parties: the Cowichan, the province, the municipality, Musqueam and the Tsawwassen First Nation. A number of folks are appealing the decision.

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

I take it you are saying that you disagree—

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

That's all the time we have. I'm sorry, Bob.

Next we have Brendan for five minutes.

[Brendan Hanley, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Thank you very much, Ministers and officials, for being here. Your presence is greatly appreciated.

Minister Chartrand, I'll follow up with you on the mining remediation big picture, but also on some of the questions raised about the Giant Mine. I think you wanted to get a bit of technical information into committee. Can I give you that opportunity?

[Rebecca Chartrand, Liberal, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

Yes, absolutely. Thank you for that, PS Hanley.

I did want to talk a little bit about the mines, in terms of the work that we're doing.

Giant Mine was established in 1948. We've inherited the challenges that come with mine remediation, but you can't put a price on safety. We want to ensure that we do this right, to ensure that the project is complete.

For example, there is a new water treatment plant. This is a long-term water treatment plant that is being constructed. It is on track. It will be operating in 2026. I had the opportunity to visit this site. The project is also subject to independent oversight through legally binding environmental agreements. Those are important.

We also have Honourable Murray Ran who has been appointed as a special representative to engage with indigenous rights holders. This is to ensure that we're addressing this legacy project in partnership and in collaboration with indigenous rights holders as well as community members.

In terms of procurement, with the mine remediation, we continue to strongly prioritize northern indigenous businesses. We want to ensure that the cleanup provides local jobs and capacity building as part of that core project objective.

This is an ongoing joint effort that we are committed to. The remediation, from our perspective, is on time and on budget.

[Brendan Hanley, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Thank you for that.

I'll continue on the theme. I happened to be in Faro last week. I had the opportunity to meet with residents of the town of Faro and to be part of a public meeting around economic opportunities for the mining remediation at the Faro mine as well as to visit the site. I was able to witness some of the outstanding work through the Dena Nezziddi Development Corporation and the Ross River Dena Council.

I wanted you to maybe just talk about the big picture. You mentioned opportunities in your opening remarks. I see tremendous opportunities for local employment, local partnership, community involvement, as well as, of course, first nations procurement and partnership. Maybe with Faro, Giant and other remediation projects in mind, you could reflect on, particularly through this budget, how we are supporting skills development and economic opportunities in the world of mining remediation.

[Rebecca Chartrand, Liberal, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

As I said earlier, we are committed to doing the best job possible with mine remediation. That is a huge part of the work under the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs to which we're committed.

I want to add that, with the mine remediation, we also understand that there are challenges with mining in the north. Burgundy Ekati mine, for example, is something that we've been supporting. We've been exploring opportunities under the large enterprise tariff loans. That demonstrates that our government is committed to supporting those who find themselves challenged within the mining industry.

We also have the critical minerals infrastructure fund. There are investments in geoscience to identify and map new critical mineral deposits. This will help track explorations and investments. With that comes the opportunity for employment. These explorations are working. We're working hand in hand with northern territorial governments, as well as indigenous leadership.

In terms of the northern contaminated mine sites, we've created 15,000 jobs for northerners. This continues to be a high priority because it is an industry that is employing people and putting food on the table, quite frankly.

[Brendan Hanley, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Thank you.

I'll save eight seconds for the next round.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Sheehan]

Next is MP Sébastien Lemire, for two and a half minutes, please.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Alty, last week marked the 50th anniversary of the modern treaty known as the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. It has been a huge success in driving exponential economic development, particularly for the Cree community in northern Quebec.

Does the federal government intend to sign new modern treaties with other nations, particularly in Quebec, such as the Anishinaabe nation?

[Rebecca Alty, Liberal, Northwest Territories, NT]

Yes. It was a major celebration last week. It was the first modern treaty. It serves as an example across Canada.

Indeed, we want to talk with any group or individual who meets the criteria of section 35 and who wishes to join a modern treaty.

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

Your government announced $10 million for the Office of the Commissioner for Modern Treaty Implementation in the last budget. However, no funding has been allocated for this purpose in the current budget.

Does this mean that the funding is still available? What happened to this amount?

Is this basically similar to your decision to introduce Bill C‑10, which was debated for a single day in the House but never came back on the House agenda afterwards and never made it to the committee for review?

I think that consensus is easy to reach. It just requires your government to take action for the benefit of the first nations.

[Rebecca Alty, Liberal, Northwest Territories, NT]

I hope this committee will move Bill C‑10 forward as quickly as possible. We believe that this is an important bill. It's also important for the indigenous governments.

The money is there.

The money will be drawn down once the law is passed.

We're just waiting for the bill to receive royal assent.