Transport committee  My name is Andrea Hoyt. I'm the Environmental Assessment Manager with the Nunatsiavut Government.

Transport committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. The Nunatsiavut Government is an Inuit regional self-government established under the Labrador Inuit land claims agreement signed by Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Labrador Inuit Association in 2005. Although Nunatsiavut remains part of Newfo

Transport committee  From my knowledge, the Nunatsiavut Government has not been consulted on any proposed changes to the acts, although we are participating in the various environmental reviews. Our understanding is that, from these four reviews of environmental legislation, the ministers will be mov

Transport committee  In northern Labrador, where I live and the Nunatsiavut Government is, we have relatively little development going on in our traditional territory right now. However, there is a proposed mine, which is actually on the Quebec side of the Quebec-Labrador border, and it has been regi

Transport committee  I think it's very important that—

Transport committee  When aboriginal groups are at the table for the discussions where the decision is being made, and the experts are at the table together, it's a sharing of equals. I think there's much better input then than when the experts just send down a pro forma request saying that they're d

Transport committee  I think that the Nunatsiavut Government would like to see the schedule removed and have all waterways protected by default. If anything is not going to be protected, then there should be a good reason to not protect it.

Transport committee  I think that any consultation process needs to be developed with the groups that you want to consult. The consultation process that might work for the Navigation Protection Act, as it may become, might be different from CEAA consultation and different from the Fisheries Act autho

Transport committee  The process is in writing, but we have not been approached to ask whether we want to add any or whether we felt that the list that is currently on the two waters that are protected in the schedule is sufficient. We haven't been consulted.

Transport committee  No, even in our interactions with the federal government on changing any schedules to any acts that I'm aware of, I don't think there is a simple way, unless we were to reverse it and have a list of what is not protected. I think that makes more sense to us.

Transport committee  I think notice is helpful, but there are so many notices that come through. Capacity is a real problem within our organizations. In Labrador, a study was done on traditional use and occupancy before the Labrador Inuit lands claims agreement process started, and the book is called

Transport committee  The communication we've had from the Minister of Transport said that the minister asked this committee to review the act, and the minister will be consulting with aboriginal groups after this process is complete and before any changes are made. The minister has not told us that t

Transport committee  I do not know of any examples in Nunatsiavut.

Transport committee  Merci beaucoup for that open offer. I don't have a clear answer for you on exactly how I think the consultations should happen. I think that in the future, once there is a new act...I assume you're talking about the consultations on the changes, right? I think that we need to

Transport committee  I'll start. As my colleague mentioned, the various environmental protection pieces fit together: CEAA, the environmental assessment process, and the various permit approval processes. Before 2012, a federal permit was a trigger for environmental assessment. Some projects are asse