Good afternoon. Bonjour. Tanisi.
I'd like to acknowledge that we've gathered on the traditional territory of the Algonquin peoples.
I am chair of what we call IITIO. My core recommendation for you today as legislators is to enable enabling legislation for international inter-tribal trade. IITIO's raison d'être is to assist in the global flow and exchange of indigenous goods, services, and investments, while respecting its principles, which are respect for indigenous culture and teachings; establishing environmentally sustainable practices; informing, educating, and encouraging all parties to adopt these practices; fostering indigenous communities that are healthy, robust, and stable; and above all, growing indigenous economies.
Canada, the United States, and Mexico are countries founded on trade with their original indigenous peoples. The 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples comprehensive review issued priorities that included a vision of a renewed relationship based on the economy, lands and resources, and economic development.
Canada's legal obligations to indigenous peoples are basically duty to consult and accommodate under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, and various comprehensive land claim settlements, which include an express treaty obligation to consult indigenous parties if their interests may be affected by new international treaties Canada is negotiating. In short, meaningful, full, and informed consultation is key.
Canada, Mexico, and the United States are all signatories to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which celebrated its 10th anniversary just last week. Article 19, to paraphrase it, is that the countries shall consult with indigenous peoples to obtain their free, prior, and informed consent on issues that may affect indigenous peoples. This is consistent with the Government of Canada's July 2017 statement to the 10 federal-indigenous relationship principles. I focus only on principles six and eight. Principle six is basically the free, prior, and informed consent. Principle eight is renewed fiscal relationships developed in collaboration with indigenous nations that promote a mutually supportive climate for economic partnership and resource development.
In previous NAFTA arrangements, as my friend was saying, Canada, Mexico, and the United States each inserted specific non-conforming measures that exempt specific sectors from the operation of NAFTA. The aboriginal affairs sector is one of them. A NAFTA indigenous chapter could include topics like traditional knowledge, not to be confused with intellectual property, inter-tribal trade, indigenous free passage rights, i.e., the Jay Treaty border crossing principles, market access, agriculture, rules of origin, dispute settlement, sustainable development, inter-tribal international investment, procurement, financing, labour, and HR. Again, we ask parliamentarians to pass enabling legislation for international inter-tribal trade.
In conclusion, I'd like to close with the following words of Justice Murray Sinclair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in his 2015 final report. He states:
Reconciliation calls for national action....
Laws must change.
Policies and programs must change....
The way we do business must change.
Members of the Standing Committee on Trade, reconciliation includes federal government recognition of pre-existing indigenous economic rights through enabling legislation for international inter-tribal trade.
Those are my comments, and I open it for questions.