Good morning, everyone.
Wai xast skelhalt ipsi nuxsil. Echa es quist Ascasiwt.
In our nsyilxcen language, that simply means: Good day, my friends and relatives. My traditional name is Ascasiwt.
I want to begin by acknowledging the fact that we're on unceded Algonquin territory,
I want to thank the committee for the opportunity to be here this morning.
I want to commend Pam Palmater for her outstanding presentation here this morning. I want the committee to know that I certainly support pretty much everything she presented to the committee.
I don't have a detailed brief. I'm not a lawyer. I will start by reading a press release that we issued under our organization, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. I may make a few comments about the bill itself, but I will rely on the exchange of questions to give further expression to our concerns.
With that, this press release is dated February 20, 2015, and it states as follows:
Anti-Terrorism Act Bill C-51 Will Infringe on Indigenous Title and Rights
(Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, BC – February 20, 2015) This week, the Harper Government introduced Bill C-51, Anti-terrorism Act, 2015. Bill C-51 will radically and dangerously expand the powers of Canada’s national security agencies and greatly infringe upon the rights of all citizens without making us any safer or secure.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs stated “The Union of BC Indian Chiefs believes the sweeping scope of Bill C-51 directly violates the ability of all Indigenous Peoples to exercise, assert and defend their constitutionally-protected and judicially-recognized Indigenous Title and Rights to their respective territories.”
“It is absolutely appalling that as Indigenous Peoples protecting our territories we may be faced with the many insidious, provocative and heavy-handed powers that are granted by this omnibus Bill C-51. The Harper Government has dramatically changed internal government practices, policymaking structures and decision-making processes to serve an explicit natural resources development agenda. We have witnessed the gutting of environmental legislation, clamp-down of scientific analysis and comprehensive surveillance programs of Indigenous and environmental opposition,” said Grand Chief Phillip.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip concluded “As an act of civil disobedience, I was arrested at Burnaby Mountain because I believe mega-projects, like Kinder Morgan and Enbridge pipelines, do not respect the Indigenous laws and inherent authority of Indigenous Peoples to protect their territories, land and waters from the very real potential and increased risk of oil spills and increased coast tanker traffic along our coast. I believe under the draconian measures of Bill C-51, I would be identified as a terrorist. Regardless, I will continue to do what is necessary to defend the collective birthright of our grandchildren.”
That public statement pretty much captures the essence of our grave concerns about Bill C-51, and I know that we stand in good company, in that at least four former prime ministers, several former Supreme Court justices, hundreds of academics and luminaries, the Canadian Bar Association, and other groups across this country—other human rights groups, civil rights groups, civil liberties groups—have all spoken out in opposition to this bill. The criticism is pretty much to the effect that this bill was cobbled together in the heat of political expediency, and it reflects many fundamental flaws and gaps.
Along with other indigenous leaders, including the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Perry Bellegarde, we also call for the scrapping of Bill C-51 and call upon the Harper government to entertain a process that is more inclusive, that takes the time necessary to ensure that the constitutional and human rights, the civil rights, of all Canadians are taken into serious consideration in putting together a bill of this nature.
We believe that Bill C-51 is less about jihadist terrorists being under every bed or in every closet in every bedroom across this country and more about increasing the output of the tar sands and facilitating the heavy-oil pipeline proposals across this country and the megaproject agenda of the Harper government. It will serve to severely undermine the constitutional and human rights of indigenous peoples, rights that are certainly reflected in the declaration of indigenous rights that was embraced by the vast majority of countries in the United Nations. It certainly flies in the face of our constitutionally enshrined rights, and it most certainly flies in the face of our judicially upheld rights by the highest legal authority in this country, namely the Supreme Court of Canada.
Most recently the Tsilhqot'in decision, the Chief Roger William decision, stated very clearly that as indigenous peoples we have an inherent responsibility to our future generations to ensure that the environment and resources of our territories are kept intact for future generations. You can see that the Government of Canada has other notions vis-à-vis energy development in this country with respect to pipeline proposals from sea to sea to sea.
Those essentially encompass the concerns we have. I agree wholeheartedly with Pam Palmater and her recitation of the oppressive and repressive legislation over the last several hundred years that has attempted to sever our cultural and spiritual connection to our lands and territories, to our culture and language.
I believe there is sufficient and adequate provision under the Criminal Code and the current national security apparatus to accomplish the same goals that are reflected in Bill C-51. Like the national chief, I too have brought the most recent report. It's a 44-page report from the RCMP security service critical infrastructure intelligence team, which I believe is a broad association of national security organizations.
This shows you how diligent the government is at suppressing indigenous rights in this country.