Mr. Speaker, when we look at the language around the regulations, it says, “After seeking the advice of the Joint Council, the Minister may make any regulations that are necessary for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act...”.
The amount of activity that would be regulated by these regulations is of major concern. Of course, as parliamentarians know, regulations do not come back before the House when they are being developed.
When we come back to one of the five conditions that talked about meaningful co-creation and meaningful involvement, I would argue that the joint council is not the body that represents that meaningful co-creation. The joint council would be made up of nine people, four appointed by the government, four are recommended by first nations, but the minister would get to do the appointments, so the minister would still make the decision, and the minister would appoint the chair of the joint council.
The government would have control of the majority of the joint council. That, again, does not fulfill the duty to consult in terms of first nations selecting their own representatives, and they get to determine who should sit on that joint council. This is just one small aspect of how it is a smoke-and-mirrors game about control being within first nations. It is still largely controlled by the minister.