Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that.
Thank you to all of our witnesses here today to discuss, with committee members, Bill C-49.
Since we do have extended hours today, and everybody is here, with many here virtually, I would like to move the motion that I submitted and gave notice of on Friday, February 9.
I move:
That the Standing Committee on Natural Resources report to the House that it:
(a) recognizes that for hundreds of years, First Nations have suffered under a broken colonial system that takes power away from their communities and places it in the hands of politicians in Ottawa;
(b) recognizes the importance of enabling First Nations to take back control of their resource revenues from the federal government through a First Nations Resource Charge;
(c) recognizes that the Indian Act hands over all reserve land and money to the federal government and that this outdated system puts power in the hands of bureaucrats, politicians, and lobbyists—not First Nations;
(d) agrees with the First Nations Tax Commission and First Nations Chiefs from across the country that a First Nation Reserve Charge would result in economic reconciliation allowing indigenous communities to take back control of their lives.
For the information of all committee members, as I ask for your support for this motion, and for all Canadians, you might know that in Vancouver on February 8, the Honourable Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada's common-sense Conservatives, committed to enable first nations to take back—