Evidence of meeting #18 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was process.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Jamie Schmale Conservative Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes, ON
Thank you, Chair.
Like Mr. Battiste, I wasn't sure where we were going with this study, but now that this comes out it actually makes sense. It also shows that the work we do here in Ottawa can impact the area on the local level. I want to congratulate Sébastien for putting this study forward.
Grand Council Chief, on the question I asked before, fire away.
Grand Council Chief, Anishinabek Nation, Assembly of First Nations
Grand Council Chief Linda Debassige
Thank you for your question, MP Schmale.
Within the Anishinabe nation, we have 39 communities. Of those, 25% have declared states of emergency, and 100% of them are challenged with the continuous delays of government, just as described here today in this particular study. It's very relational. Canada continues to demonstrate its dereliction of duty and dismal display of honour of the Crown, to be frank. Provinces and municipalities are third parties that Canada gives more rights to than original title holders.
That being said, it's very similar to the states of emergency by our communities relating to Public Safety Canada, first nations policing legislation and the failure of Canada to recognize first nations and their ability to create laws for safety. Our communities on the lands are being riddled with drug dealers from larger metropolitan areas, who continue to take advantage of our most vulnerable people.
Again, first nations policing legislation has been here since the nineties. My friend, Chief Paavola, has actually been in a court for her community's band status since the 1900s. They only recently provided their application for mandamus in the courts in 2018, and that's as a result of the continuous delays demonstrated by the Government of Canada, of not recognizing who the original people were. It's very interrelated. There are so many correlations that can be ascribed to that, and I'd be happy to put that into a brief for the committee and further describe those correlations as they relate to ATR.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Terry Sheehan
Thank you very much.
To all our presenters today, thank you very much for sharing your knowledge.
Go ahead, MP Lemire.
Bloc
Sébastien Lemire Bloc Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
If I may, I would like to add that I don't think there will be any other meetings that will deal directly with this subject. However, the depth of the testimony, I think, still provides the guidance they have for us. I did sense a sincere commitment on the part of officials to move things forward.
I think we could immediately instruct the analysts to begin drafting this report. It may not necessarily be the largest, but it may be particularly relevant. We need recommendations from the committee so the report can be made public as soon as possible. Then we can follow up on these steps and show that there is also a willingness on the part of parliamentarians to move forward.
I would therefore suggest that we begin drafting the report as soon as possible. I will also offer suggestions for potential recommendations that I will send to the analysts through you, Mr. Chair, or through the clerk. Does that suit you?
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Terry Sheehan
Thank you very much, Mr. Lemire.
Today was a good day, and we will be getting that report done expeditiously as well.
Thank you, everyone, and have a great afternoon. Chi meegwetch.