Quite simply, I believe that most first nations will oppose this bill because of the fact that we have not had an opportunity to discuss the potential impacts. I hear witnesses talk about “our resources” and “our opportunities”, but what people tend to forget is that, look, I'm Algonquin Anishinabe, and you're sitting in Ottawa on unceded Anishinabe territory.
The definition of “unceded” is that we did not give up the rights or make a deal with the colonial government. These territories that everybody wants and talk about developing belong to first nations and we deserve an opportunity to have a robust consultation process. That is the judgment that was rendered by Judge Blackhawk in Kebaowek v. CNL.
We're not opposed to development, but we want a clear opportunity to make sure we understand the impacts of the project and whether or not those impacts can be mitigated, and then be in a position to move forward. We have two examples of where it works and where it doesn't. In the case of the nuclear project, again, the consultation process did not work. We—for 10 years—told Canada and the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories that calling us and sending us letters was simply not consultation, and that it required a deeper consultation, a framework and a robust process. They disagreed. We took them to court. We won. The court said that the consultation process wasn't adequate.
We have a second project where we have worked with PSPC on a bridge replacement project in our traditional territory. Through this process with PSPC and the Impact Assessment Agency, we came up with a process that allowed for us to have our say in terms of the environmental impact statement. We were able to develop a process to engage our people and talk to them about the options, the impacts and the mitigation strategies that needed to take place for us to support the project. Next week, we will be meeting with the Impact Assessment Agency and PSPC, and we will be giving them our consent to our preferred option of the three that were presented to us for this bridge replacement.
There's a good way to consult us, and there's a bad way. Bill C-5 is probably the worst I've ever seen.