Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much. Good afternoon, honourable committee members. I'm pleased to be on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin people and to have this opportunity to appear before this distinguished committee. I commend the committee for examining Bill C-262, the s

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I realize I have a little bit of time. Yes, it's true. The Supreme Court has said, as I said, in 1987 and since then they've affirmed that international declarations are relevant and persuasive sources for interpreting human rights in Canada. So there's no question. But it goes

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Consent will be different depending on the processes you're dealing with. If you're dealing with an international convention or instrument, like they were with climate change when Canada invited indigenous peoples to be part of it, in such a process it has to fit the process. I

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In every situation, you take in the facts and the law. You have to. Let's say you have 15 first nations. Half go one way and half go the other way, and you have all these different opinions. One has to look at the facts and the law. What if certain first nations were going to su

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I had the privilege of being in the reference on Quebec secession, so I know when it's important to resolve certain questions. I don't believe this is one of them because there are just too many situations. How is the court going to judge? Usually they want a contextual analysis

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, first of all, I read something on the Daniels decision by Thomas Isaac and Arend J.A. Hoekstra. I read a little about it. International instruments cannot include details for every possible situation; that's not how it works. You have 193 countries. It's impossible for the

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  First of all, if you're going to consent, you have to look at each of the situations. Let's say that you do get different results from different first nations. It's all part of the mix. One cannot say how it's going to come out without balancing the facts in law in each case. Tha

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm not aware that it went to the Supreme Court. It's just that one has to decide first whether these rights are relative. Human rights are relative. They can't be absolute. If everyone had absolute rights, how would you determine any issue? Everyone has the ultimate decision bec

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  First of all, just know that the consent provisions in the UN declaration have now been approved, pretty much word-for-word, in the American declaration. How do you decide when both the American declaration, which is a regional one applying to the Caribbean and all the Americas..

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The only thing I was going to say is that I submitted to this committee a commentary on Mr. Isaac's and Mr. Hoekstra's work, and I dealt with that question. First of all, you'll see in there that his arithmetic was wrong, and even if you accept it, one should look at how states w

Canadian Heritage committee  Good afternoon, Madam Chair and honourable committee members. I would like to begin by acknowledging that we are on the traditional territory of the Algonquin people. I would also like to thank you for inviting me to appear before this distinguished committee and for your support

Canadian Heritage committee  Okay. According to their own world views, indigenous peoples also embrace, interpret and express their rights in a holistic manner. All of their inherent, pre-existing rights are interrelated and interdependent. I won't read the seventh preambular paragraph in the UN declaratio

Canadian Heritage committee  Indigenous peoples have gone through history not having their rights recognized—actually it's not “recognized”, but “affirmed”. If one does not begin by recognizing that these rights pre-exist, if one doesn't recognize that the rights are attached to the land, as some speakers ha

Canadian Heritage committee  May I respond in English?

Canadian Heritage committee  The UN declaration is supported worldwide. We don't have a big dissension anywhere in the whole world on it. If some instrument is supported very strongly by indigenous peoples, and if the world community has also accepted it by reaffirming it 10 times, then that instrument has l