Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is John Gailus. I'm a partner with Devlin Gailus. We're a law firm in Victoria, British Columbia. We're lawyers. Please don't hold that against us. With me is my partner, Christopher Devlin. By way of background, I'm a member of Haida Nation, Skid

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In terms of the Cowichan mall, that land has been surrendered—that is the old term. The revenues, though, do go to the former CP holders. So they actually did go through the formal process under that. I know that Westbank is mostly certificate of possession lands. I think the oth

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I agree with what Mr. Devlin said. I think when we talk about the existential angst, it really comes down to: what is the nature of these lands? What is the nature of the relationship with the federal crown if we go under this fee simple model as opposed to...? When you go back

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think there is always going to be the potential for delay. I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all solution. I talk about proportionality. If you have a willing seller.... So we're talking about fee simple and of course the crown purchasing that land and turning it into a r

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Not in 10 seconds.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The short answer is no.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Certainly. This is mostly from my own personal experience and it's a little dated, but I still have a great deal of interaction with people who work at the department. Part of my practice is dealing with designations, leasing, and that sort of thing. As I see it, there are two c

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think the case is called the Charles v. Semiahmoo case. That is the one where the land had been surrendered for a customs facility that was never built. So the Federal Court of Appeal made an order and the file landed on my desk and they said, get it done. Get the 14 or 16 sign

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  To be honest with you, there wasn't. The one advantage was that the lands were already held by the crown, the federal crown, so we didn't have to deal with the province. It was simply Public Works transferring the administration and control to INAC. There weren't the hoops around

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I agree with everything André says. When you're looking at economic development, there is something that's not really talked about much, and it is that a first nation that has a property taxation system, whether it be FNFSMA or section 83, can use that, particularly if they're

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think I can field that. I had that scribbled down. I think some of the prairie provinces allow for that. They were lands that were subject to treaty land entitlement settlements. In my view, certainly if you can be doing the processes in parallel rather than sequentially, it

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I see two problems with the designation process, and one of them is the double majority requirement. It's one of those unintended consequences that comes from the Corbiere case, which dealt with the elections on reserves. Subsequent to Corbiere, the designation requirements were

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is good to be back. Just by way of background for the members, I am a lawyer. Please don't hold that against me. I'm sure there are a lot of you in the room. I am a member of the Haida Nation on the northwest coast of British Columbia. I am also a forme

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'd agree with the comments of Chief Thunder and Mr. Shanks on this. I think there isn't a silver bullet; there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution out there. When you're looking at first nations, you see there are some common aspirations. They want autonomy. However, there are l