Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to Bill C-25, the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation act. It is most important that we put this bill into perspective.
We cannot lose sight of what the agreements behind this bill are attempting to redress. The legal rights of Newfoundland's Mi'kmaq people have been in limbo since their status under the Indian Act was left unresolved in 1949, when Newfoundland joined Confederation. Exclusion from status under the Indian Act not only denied Newfoundland's Mi'kmaq people access to the supports that are available to other first nations with that status, but it also robbed them of recognition of their identity and cultural heritage.
The damage done and the marginalization of several generations led many people to hide their aboriginal ancestry. As a result, huge segments of family histories were lost forever.
Decades of unsuccessful negotiations and protracted legal action over a period of many governments meant that this fundamental issue remained unresolved for far too long.
The most recent phase of discussions to redress the historic exclusion of the status of Newfoundland's Mi'kmaq people began in 2002, when the previous Liberal government initiated renewed negotiations in good faith with the Federation of Newfoundland Indians. The talks focused on the recognition of the Mi'kmaq people in Newfoundland under the Indian Act and, after constructive discussions, an agreement in principle was signed in 2007.
On September 26, 2007, the Prime Minister said that for more than half a century the Mi'kmaq people of Newfoundland had been among the “forgotten people”, as the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples calls its members. They never stopped fighting for recognition and now that title can be cast aside at last.
Ratified in 2008, the agreement would create the landless Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Band and ensure that Mi'kmaq people in Newfoundland would be able to achieve recognition, status under the Indian Act, and the dignity denied them for far too long.
The Liberal Party believes that any legislation, directives or policies to implement agreements between the Crown and the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation must be based on the premise that legitimate applicants must not be excluded from the enrolment process.
We are concerned that unfortunately this bill seems more focused on protecting the federal government from being sued over its mistakes in how it implemented this historic agreement and on limiting the legal recourse of membership applicants for the new first nation.
We understand that the government expected far fewer applications than the 103,000 it eventually received. However, if the process was flawed or if the criteria or guidelines were problematic, then the fault lies with the Conservative government, not with the applicants. It was the Conservative government that negotiated the criteria for enrolment and how those criteria would be administered. That process was set down in guidelines that were appended to the original agreement.
Because the volume of applications was greater than expected, last year the government entered into a supplemental agreement with the Qalipu first nation and the Federation of Newfoundland Indians. Pursuant to that supplemental agreement, the government is now in the process of reviewing all applicants, including those who have already been granted status. While the government asserts that the supplemental agreement does not change the membership criteria, it does change the guidelines for how those criteria are to be assessed. There is no question that these changes will potentially have an impact on enrolment, and that is why a review of all applications, including those that have already been granted, is under way.
While section 10 of the supplementary agreement affirms that it does not affect the status of the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Band, the agreement could alter its founding members list. As a result, members who do not meet the additional enrolment criteria could lose their band membership and Indian status. The power of cabinet to remove individuals from the founding members list is confirmed in clause 3 of Bill C-25 and is one of two substantive things this bill would do.
The Liberal Party recognizes that both the 2008 agreement and last year's supplementary agreement flow from a nation-to-nation process that must be respected. The criteria negotiated between the parties should be viewed as an agreement between two nations. However, while the government claims that this bill is necessary to implement the 2008 and 2013 agreements, we are very concerned that the true purpose of the bill is to indemnify the federal government from legal liability for its mistakes during the botched enrolment process.
It is this denial of legal recourse to applicants that is of the greatest concern to the Liberal Party. Clause 4 of this bill is clearly designed to shield the federal government from potential liability for damages flowing from its incompetence in implementing the original agreement. Subclause 4(1) states:
No person or entity has a right to claim or receive any compensation, damages or indemnity from Her Majesty in right of Canada, any employee or agent of Her Majesty, a band, a council of a band or any other person or entity only because any person’s name, or any person’s date of birth, was omitted or removed from the schedule to the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation Band Order.
This limitation of access to a legal recourse is causing many people to question the legitimacy of this bill. The repeated mistakes and oversights of the federal government through the process to create the Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Band have led to unnecessary confusion, and many applicants are feeling frustrated and wronged by a process that should have fostered reconciliation about a historic wrong. The Mi'kmaq First Nations Assembly of Newfoundland is preparing to launch a class action lawsuit against the federal government over the constantly changing process for membership in this new band.
The process that is under way is meant to right hundreds of years of wrongs, but this government's negligence is instead exacerbating the feeling of victimization among many members of the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation.
People who have a legitimate complaint against the federal government for mistakes or mismanagement should not have that legal recourse cut off by the bill. It should be for the courts to decide whether damages related to the enrolment process are appropriate and not for parliamentarians to prejudge that issue with this bill.