Justine Gilbert (Director, Modern Treaty Management, British Columbia, Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs) at the Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee

I'll start with some opening remarks, and then I can turn to my colleague, Sean Daley.

In regard to the difference between the Auditor General and the proposed concept of the commissioner that you have before you, a really important point is that, first, the commissioner is empowered not just to do performance audits—which are a very important review mechanism—but also to do more deep dive reviews in order to really examine the thinking behind policy, legislation or program intentions of the Government of Canada, as well as to shine a light on what may be working or not working in that case.

The Auditor General has a very broad mandate and covers the entirety of the Government of Canada. This commissioner will be focused on looking at modern treaties. The Auditor General has been quite good. There have been three very intensive studies on three of our modern treaties by the Auditor General.

The independence of the commissioner relates to how many reviews will be done, but we will have a commissioner focused, each year, on looking at the landscape of implementation, whether it's deep diving on an individual treaty or looking at broader, more systemic issues that may cut across various modern treaties.

For these various components, the modern treaty commissioner can really add to the landscape of accountability for the Government of Canada.

Thank you.