Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm here today to provide a briefing on clauses 352 to 384 of the BIA. They deal with amendments to the First Nations Land Management Act, a long-standing piece of legislation that received royal assent way back in 1999. When it came into force, the act rat

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. We did get your question the other night and we appreciated that. We've looked and we did not get legal advice and did not think legal advice was necessary because this is merely the statement of a pre-existing acknowledgement that the government is impleme

Finance committee  When the first nations approached us to put this wording into the bill, we considered it. We felt that there would be no impact, because it's a statement of a pre-existing public commitment. That was why we supported it.

Finance committee  I'm sorry. I misunderstood the question, Mr. Chair. The impact of the deletion is that it would be quite harmful to the relationship that we've built with first nations under first nations land management. They see this as a hugely symbolic expression of their self-determination

Finance committee  Would you like me to read the language out?

Finance committee  It says: And whereas the Government of Canada is committed to implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; It's part of their preambular statement.