Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Thank you, committee members. My name is Neil Belanger and I am a member of the Lax Seel Clan in the House of Nika'teen of the Gitxsan Nation. I am also the chief executive officer of Indigenous Disability Canada. For the past 30 years, I have worked in a variety of roles in the disability and health sectors.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I can't list them offhand, but I think Canada has a history of implementing laws and legislation without proper consultation with indigenous peoples. Historically we've seen that, which is why Canada implemented the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to compensate for that and to bring them in and speak with them.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  Yes, without a doubt. As I said, with the Accessible Canada Act, which looks at accessibility on the federal side within first nations, Canada has exempted first nations until 2026 so they can do proper consultation and hear their voices. With MAID and the significant impact it will have on our people and on our communities, why would it not be extended for the same priority?

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  The recommendation that I would make is to pause the expansion of MAID. Making recommendations to consult indigenous people after the fact and after the changes are in place doesn't make any sense. We know, historically, that there's underfunding. We know that there's a lack of critical mental health services.

Medical Assistance in Dying committee  I'm probably not as familiar as I should be with the Infants Act in B.C., and I may be wrong in my interpretation. I believe that mature minors under that act can make certain decisions in their best interests for their medical treatment. I also think the hospital can step in and challenge that, or the medical service can challenge that if they're refusing treatment that is for their benefit and that will continue.

Human Resources committee  I would like to thank the committee for this opportunity to speak briefly today on Bill C-22, the Canada disability benefit, during this eighth anniversary of Indigenous Disability Awareness Month being celebrated across Canada. My name is Neil Belanger and I'm a member of the Lax Seel Clan in the House of Nikateen of the Gitxsan nation.

Human Resources committee  No, I don't. I would say get it to regulations. Get it done with persons with disabilities and the disability community. My concern, quite honestly, is that this bill is not going to go through. With some of the recommendations that are coming now.... The bill's been out for a year and a half.

Human Resources committee  No. I just think it should be as generous as possible in relation to the benefit itself, whatever that might be. We have 13 jurisdictions across Canada. That's going to take some work to take a look at, and with the provinces and territories for the clawback.... Those are all there.

Human Resources committee  It's like anything else. The engagement has to happen. They have to be involved in the process. With Bill C-22 they have to be at the table as well. They have to be directing how the regulations are being created and be talking about the experience they have from remote, rural and isolated communities.

Human Resources committee  I expect there will be. We've been engaged in the process since the beginning with Bill C-22. We've informed our clients about it. We've participated in the online survey. We've had meetings. We've worked with other disability organizations that have done consultations while helping them develop an indigenous-specific survey, which we sent out to communities.

Human Resources committee  We are, and that's from our clients. What we are hearing from them is, “Get it done now.” I don't believe the benefit will be a dollar. I think that's a speaking point. We need to move forward on this quickly. Again, my fear is that it won't get passed. My fear is that there will be a division within the disability community, wanting things that were never in the bill to begin with, and that we'll just go back to the drawing board and get more and more behind.

Human Resources committee  As I noted, consultations have been going on for a while. Even back under the Accessible Canada Act, a lot of the barriers that were noted were in relation to provincial and territorial sectors as opposed to the federal side. We've been involved with a number of meetings, and our clients have as well.

Human Resources committee  I agree with Ms. Yee. It's difficult. When we look at individuals—and active members of the community need to be included—it's different from one person to the next. I think I heard the minister say anywhere from $19,000 to $24,000.... A minimum of $2,000 a month is what we were going for.