Mr. Speaker, I will be presenting the Reform position on Bill C-39, the York Factory flooded land act and Bill C-40, the Nelson House flooded land act, on behalf of my colleague, the member for North Island-Powell River.
We are here today to debate the second and third in a series of five bills dealing with reserve land that belongs to five First Nations in northern Manitoba which were flooded in the 1970s.
In June 1994 we debated the first bill in this series, Bill C-36, the Split Lake Cree First Nation Flooded Land Act. Bill C-36 was an enlightened agreement dealing with outstanding native grievances and it received support from the Reform Party. Bills C-39 and C-40, while dealing with similar subject matter, are unique to the York Factory and Nelson House First Nations and require some comment.
In the 1970s hydro related projects on the Nelson and Churchill rivers, along with the Lake Winnipeg regulations project, flooded almost 4,800 hectares of reserve land belonging to the five First Nations in northern Manitoba. In addition, more than 208,000 hectares of non-reserve land traditionally used by First Nations members for hunting and trapping were also flooded.
To address the impact of flooding, the Manitoba Northern Flood Agreement was signed by Canada, Manitoba, Manitoba Hydro and the northern flood committee made up of the five Manitoba First Nations: the Split Lake Cree, Nelson House, York Factory, Norway House and Cross Lake First Nations. The agreement included financial compensation, community infrastructure programs and new land acquisition.
Over the intervening years, implementation of the northern flood agreement broke down because the roles and responsibilities of the parties were not clearly defined and the agreement did not anticipate the complexities of concluding such agreements. In 1990 the parties to the northern flood agreement negotiated a proposed basis of settlement. This provided the foundation for negotiating implementation agreements with the five individual native bands.
Allow me to deal with the objectives of Bills C-39 and C-40 which are before us. They are identical in scope and focus but not in compensation. The bills contain four basic elements which my colleagues have touched on.
The first element is to provide that fee simple lands are not subject to becoming special reserves under sections 35 and 36 of the Indian Act.
The second element is to provide that moneys allowed under the York Factory implementation act and the Nelson House implementation act are now payable to the crown as Indian moneys as defined in section 35(4) of the Indian Act, but are administered by a First Nations trust.
The third element is to provide that the claims which may be made under either the northern flood agreement, the York Factory implementation agreement or the Nelson House implementation agreement be administered according to the terms of the applicable implementation agreement.
The fourth element is to enable Canada to utilize the Manitoba Arbitration Act when dealing with any dispute between the parties submitted to arbitration under the terms of the York Factory implementation agreement or the Nelson House implementation agreement.
Both bills are comprehensive and limit federal liability to their normal fiduciary responsibility. Ongoing or unanticipated future liability is placed upon the project proponent, Manitoba Hydro. Essentially the Government of Canada should never have signed such a loose agreement back in 1977 to cover these flooded lands and then foisted it on to the five affected bands.
However, we now have enlightened legislation before us and it is time to move on as we did on Bill C-36, the Split Lake Cree First Nation, and as we will probably do in a year or two with the two remaining flooded land bills dealing with the Cross Lake and Norway House First Nations.
One very comprehensive element of these bills is that settlement moneys will be administered by a trust company to guarantee accountability. To compensate these two First Nations for loss of reserve land, the federal government will contribute approximately six and one-quarter million dollars to the York Factory First Nation and about fifteen and one-quarter million dollars to the Nelson House First Nation.
Both the Government of Manitoba and Manitoba Hydro will make additional contributions of land and money. The province of Manitoba is particularly satisfied with the agreements. In conversations with the ministers and officials, my colleague from North Island-Powell River is satisfied that the deals are fair and just and that the five First Nations have been patient and realistic in their negotiations.
Bill C-39 and Bill C-40 will allow fee simple lands to be held by the respective native corporations outside the normal encumbrances of the Indian Act. The fee simple lands are subject to property taxation and any business originating from these lands is also taxable. Allowing these lands to be used for economic development purposes is both enlightening and allows for new independence of these First Nations.
Bill C-39 and Bill C-40 enable the individual band members to appeal under the Manitoba Arbitration Act if unsatisfied with their own band decisions which affect them. Naturally these agreements have received band ratification. The province of Manitoba is comfortable with these agreements and is promoting them.
As my colleague from North Island-Powell River said in his concluding remarks in second reading debate on Bill C-36, we are dealing with legitimate outstanding grievances. Bill C-39 and Bill C-40 are mirror images of Bill C-36, which passed a year ago, in scope and intent. Consequently, the Reform Party supports them. There are some finer points which may be clarified and elaborated on. However, this will best be done in committee.