Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all of you. It's good to see you again.
Mr. Rae, you said you didn't want to be political, but I'm sure the history books will show that your leadership paved the way for Justin Trudeau's large majority government. We thank you, obviously, for your service to the country in your previous elected capacity and now for continuing to try to facilitate some development for the people you're working for.
I want to focus on the United Nations declaration. I was the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs when the initial TRC report came out. We were fairly surprised that the Liberal Party at the time right away said that they were going to adopt every recommendation in the TRC report, including, most significantly, UNDRIP, and that one of the recommendations is not only that Canada sign on but that they enact it and basically make it effective in Canadian law.
As you know, the previous Conservative government initially didn't sign, and then did, with the caveat that it was aspirational and that they couldn't see it working with section 35 and our constitutional framework. We've since seen that Minister Wilson-Raybould has said that adopting the whole thing into Canadian law is now unworkable and simplistic.
I have a couple of questions. First, do you think we can adopt UNDRIP into Canadian law, given the current constitutional framework, as was proposed by the TRC and promised by the government in the election campaign?
The second question is perhaps a little more complex. The Supreme Court has ruled that there is a duty to consult and accommodate, where necessary. I think industry has come to grips with that. As you've said, certainly the bigger companies are trying to meet that standard when they can understand it. Free, prior, and informed consent in UNDRIP is a different standard, I would argue, and I know you have said that it's a key principle of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Boreal Leadership Council has said, for instance, “It must be noted that FPIC cannot exist where a people does not have the option to meaningfully withhold consent.” It sounds like a veto in common layman's terms. Minister Bennett has said that FPIC does not constitute a veto.
There is a lot there. In your opinion, does FPIC constitute a veto over projects that do not have the consent of first nations on their traditional territory, and do you think UNDRIP can be implemented completely, as has been suggested, within the Canadian context?