Thank you very much.
I appreciate the explanation behind the motion, Kelly.
My point of view is that we have good evidence and we should use it. I don't have a problem with the way the funding for the departmental consultation took place. I would have a problem if they withheld the funding until the report was compiled and there was some suggestion that they were trying to buy certain testimony, but that is not what happened here.
If we apply the same logic that you laid out for the “muddying the waters” argument, we could never invite the Federation of Canadian Municipalities here. If it received funding on how to plan for asset management in municipalities, and then gained expertise, I want to hear that expertise if it comes to testify.
If we have reservations about the quality of the evidence in these briefs, that's another thing. I expect the answer would be no, but I'd gladly entertain a motion to bring those witnesses in here to testify in person. We can cross-examine on the quality of the evidence, but I think we've spent a good chunk of time on this study, so I don't think that's where we want to go.
I have a real concern here, and I think it paints a terrible picture. If I put myself in the shoes of a first nations person who took the time to prepare evidence that did make its way to this committee, and I look back at the process of the changes to the Navigation Protection Act, I will see that in the 2007 to 2009 period when there was a study by the TRAN committee in which there were no witnesses from first nations.
When I look at the briefs that were submitted to the committee during that time, I think there were 28, and not one of them was from a first nations community. When it actually came to a debate in the House, it was part of omnibus budget legislation, and a lot of the comments I heard around this had to do with there not being sufficient time for the issues to come to light. Now, by design or by accident, if we were to support this motion, again, we would be largely excluding evidence of first nations communities on an issue that is of extraordinary importance to first nations.
If I were one of the groups putting evidence forward, I would feel that it is being implied that my behaviour is unethical or that my evidence is being buried because it's disagreed with. You went to great lengths to explain that this is not the case, but the consequence of this motion is going to communicate that very strongly to our community members from first nations, and for that reason I can't support it.
Thank you.