Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to our witnesses.
I'm going to spend the first part of my time addressing a document that I'm getting from the public record. It came to our attention today. It's from the Assembly of First Nations. In it, they talk about the process:
The first problem with the legislation is the way it has come to stand before the Committee. The legislation was crafted without the due “consultation and cooperation” of First Nations as is the minimum requirement outlined in Article 19 of UNDRIP, which reads in full,
States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the [I]ndigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.
Then, in the conclusion—hopefully, we'll get a response to this committee about this, Mr. Chair, because I would like a formal response from the minister—they say that the minister has not consulted with first nations specifically for that.
I would like to move a motion that this committee write the minister to confirm whether or not first nations—and which first nations—have been consulted in this process. I would hope that the motion would be supported by my colleagues.