The Supreme Court is bound by the law of the land and the Constitution is clear as to the allocation of powers between the federal and provincial governments.
In terms of what this legislation does, and it is important that the committee consider this, there are two sides to it. The first is that there are provisional rules that will apply throughout first nation communities, but they are provisional until the first nation itself adopts its own laws, which they can. The reality of first nations in Canada is that they are different; they have different cultures and different customs. Now with this bill those who choose to do so will be able to draft and pass their own laws, which will be endorsed and approved by the community, and then be applicable on reserve.
This is why I said earlier that this is not at all paternalistic. This is giving the first nation communities the powers to adopt laws that will deal with the very issue at the heart of Bill S-2. For those who don't, then the federal rules will apply. We know that this will not happen overnight. That's why we have this one-year period from the day the bill receives royal assent. For one year nothing will happen. The first nations who want to adopt their own laws during that year will be able to do so. They will come into force one year after royal assent, just like the provisional federal rules will. At that time, either the federal law applies or the local community law applies.
I think it's a practical approach to a difficult problem in terms of implementation. What you also have to know is that the centre of excellence, which will be set up after royal assent is given to the bill, will help first nations in developing these laws for their own communities.