Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  They had reserve deeds to their property, and when the Indian Act came into being in 1876 there was a land tenure system under that. I think at one time they called it a location certificate. Eventually it evolved into a certificate of possession system.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  From the band, yes, or we guarantee one at a bank.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I don't know enough about the communities under the First Nations Land Management Act to have an informed opinion, especially for this committee. I can tell you in terms of rights, Mohawk people believe that first nations people have certain rights, and I think the right to be ta

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  People do pay user fees in our community. If they're receiving a direct service, like hydro or water and sewer, they will pay those fees because they're deriving a benefit; but if it's something that's just taxation, there would be opposition to it. In our case, Treaty 3 1/2 says

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Again, I don't know enough about where it has been implemented. I haven't read too many reports on how it's working. When communities came under that regime, it was heralded as a major step forward, but the follow-up report to make sure people are satisfied that it's working well

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think there has to be a capacity. That's the first issue, and there has to be a law-making authority with the ability to enforce the laws in the jurisdiction. Without that being in place, it's going to be pretty difficult to meet challenges.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The First Nations Land Management Act may work very well for some communities, but there's no cookie-cutter approach that what's good in British Columbia is going to be good and appropriate in Ontario or in Atlantic Canada or in Quebec, for example. So it has to be appropriate to

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The Mohawk Nation has not been very much a taker of the First Nations Land Management Act. We feel that the law has to be culturally appropriate for the people. Anything that resembles alienation of the land is a very sensitive topic to Mohawk people, particularly because there i

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The land management on our reserve is under the certificate of possession system under the Indian Act, so we have private interests, and they can mortgage that interest to the band. So we can set up a mortgage regime to accommodate housing; all we need is the capital to lend them

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  What ideas did you have in mind?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Regarding the commercialization, each business is going to have different environmental impacts. There just needs to be adequate consultation. In municipalities you have a planning department that holds public meetings, so if the people who live in those communities have a concer

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Let's say we looked at a quarry. The Department of Indian Affairs have what they call draft quarry regulations. Under the Indian Act land tenure system--let's call it a deed, so everybody understands what we're talking about--a certificate of possession is similar to an individua

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There are two problems. There's a lack of potable water: 57% of the wells in our community are contaminated. There are 293 that are hooked up to a municipal system with a contract we have with the town of Deseronto. But in addition to the lack of potable water, many of the wells

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It presents a lot of challenges in housing development and the need for adequate water and sewage. People do pay water and sewer bills.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  You're asking about challenges. Every community has poor people, people who are very marginalized in their income, who do need social housing. If a person falls into a situation of no longer being able to afford their mortgage payment, there has to be an alternative place to put