There's a core matter of concern with respect to this. Granted, Global Affairs is doing a great job of doing consultations with stakeholder groups and with rights holder groups as best they can, but there's a problem with the rights holder groups and the federal obligation. That is when we go back to the principles of what consultation is all about, and we don't have to go farther than read the Supreme Court of Canada cases of Delgamuukw and Tsilhqot'in to understand what is consultation and what is not.
I know we have tight timelines, where there are 11 days between each round, but 11 days between each round does not in my opinion provide full, frank, fair, and meaningful consultation with rights holders. It's fraught with danger because what happens is that you negotiate something and think you've done your consultation, but there are problems all the way with rights holders saying, “Wait, we don't have enough time to review this. This is too complicated. We have to get people in to review this complicated trade stuff.”
My concern here—and I know there's no control over the timeline—is that 11 days between rounds is not a lot of time for a full and meaningful consultation with the rights holders.