Environment committee  I have not seen the plan. I don't believe Canada has a full plan. And no, I don't have it beside me.

Environment committee  I can speak best for people of the Northwest Territories. I can clearly say that we have not been consulted, but our concern goes beyond consultation. Because we are at the table talking about the issue of who in fact owns the land, we believe our consent is necessary. So it goes

Environment committee  I can clearly tell you, because as I said, I've been involved over the years.... I'm not a new player. I also chair NACOSAR, which is the National Aboriginal Council on Species at Risk, and we have not met with the minister responsible. We have concerns. In fact, we want to app

Environment committee  I think it's really consistent with their position. Canada is refusing to take a lead as they ought to. They say they're waiting for someone else to come to agreement before they move. It's the total opposite of Canada's international way of doing things. Canada needs to step up

Environment committee  Thank you. The point I'm making is that we have to be very cognizant of what is happening. You can't make decisions in Ottawa without speaking to people like me, and especially to people who are on the land every day. They have to have the opportunity to include their knowledge,

Environment committee  You can maybe give me a one-minute signal. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, for this opportunity. My name is Chief Bill Erasmus. I'm actually the national chief for the Dene Nation, which comprises 30 communities in the Northwest Territories, one

Environment committee  Thank you for the question. Before I get into that, in my previous answer to your question on water intake, I only referred to my own community in Yellowknife, but there are 30 other communities down the river system from there who may take water from the Mackenzie River, for e

Environment committee  We get our drinking water from the Yellowknife River, which fortunately flows the other way; it comes from the barren lands, and we're downstream. The water from the Mackenzie River water basin goes into Great Slave Lake, but we don't consume that water. So we're fortunate that w

Environment committee  There are federal-territorial monitoring systems in place. As far as I know, we as first nations are also engaged. It's quite a different regime in the Northwest Territories, as you probably know.

Environment committee  Primarily it is, yes.

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for the opportunity to present to you. I have copies here of a resolution that our chiefs passed earlier this year, which I'd like handed out to the committee members. Also, I'm here on short notice and I will make a copy of my presentation

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. Well, in my comments I wasn't directly suggesting that you make amendments. I was careful to say that in the event that you were open to amendments, those were the two areas I would suggest you look at. Of course there's the danger of a lengthy process, especially w

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. First of all, yes, the Assembly of First Nations have been involved. We don't go so far as to suggest that the process was one of consultation. We did participate. We didn't get nearly as much involvement as we would have liked from people across the country. There ar

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As you're aware, probably the biggest issue between first nations people and the crown is that land is at issue. There's a huge myth within the Canadian system that our people extinguished our rights to land; that somehow, without being defeated or conquered in war or by the mili

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think the fact that they are Superior Court judges has brought concern on our part, because there are very few first nation or indigenous peoples who have Superior Court appointments. On the fact that it's a final decision, I think we've always been okay with final decisions, b