Foreign Affairs committee  I'll just emphasize what Mr. Dechert said. The amendment would clarify the reason for the prohibition, which is to focus on avoiding risks to environmental harm resulting from permanent loss of water from Canadian ecosystems. It's just a clarification that would influence any int

Foreign Affairs committee  My apologies, but we're actually not able to provide you with details at this moment. We can follow up, perhaps in a few minutes, on precisely how the number is referenced in the IBWTA regulations themselves. I would like to make a couple of points on the 50,000 number and its

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's a broad set of questions. In general, in terms of addressing the environmental management gap as a general issue, Environment Canada sees itself playing a supportive role under the leadership of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, because Aboriginal Affair

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thanks for the questions. I'll respond to the first two together and then treat the third one separately. I take it the first two are about our plans to inspect and enforce the forthcoming waste water system regulations, and particularly how we would manage that on reserves. We

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If provincial officers do that, they will not be acting as provincial officers; they will be acting as federal officers enforcing a federal regulation. They would be agents to the crown, not agents to the provincial government. Before this happens, of course, the next step to ha

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There may be, but the answer will have to depend jurisdiction by jurisdiction--and in the case of first nations, first nation by first nation. We're just starting the process of those discussions, but we're open to coming up with arrangements that are as streamlined as possible f

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's a good question. Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development and Environment Canada have done work to identify this issue in two different ways. One is on what the actual environmental issues are. They really haven't changed since the 2009 Auditor General report that lis

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm going to give you the answer that I may be difficult here, but the Department of the Environment doesn't have a position on what the Indian Act should look like. We could go out for a beer, but I can't speak for the Department of the Environment on that topic.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I have a couple of points. First, on the issue of storage tanks, standards with respect to the construction and management of storage tanks are typically promulgated by provinces to address storage tanks off federal land and off reserves. However, the federal government has regu

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Maybe I can address the first question, and leave the speculation to my Auditor General colleagues. I apologize, I may have misunderstood your question. Were you asking about the possibility of enforcing provincial laws on reserves?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I can only speak for Environment Canada on that issue. Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada of course has received renewed funding to support increased work under the FNLMA and is also pursuing a variety of other strategies with respect to negotiating self-governmen

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm going to duck the term “supersede”. Federal regulations will apply across Canada. Some provinces also have regulations—not all. Indeed, many do not. In many cases, the issue is addressed by means of municipal by-laws. The federal regulations will establish a baseline standard

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  May I add to that? The question, sir, has two parts. Generally, on where the gap arises, I take no issue with Mr. Barrett's response. In terms of waste water, the government has promulgated draft regulations, which will apply across Canada, including on reserves. Those regulatio

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm afraid I can't speak for Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, other than to say that the specific recommendation the Auditor General's report made was that both departments should assess the funding requirements they needed to fulfill their land management resp

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We do that in a couple of ways, one where we actually regulate specific activities--for example, mining. We have a regulation with respect to mining effluents. If a mine is discharging water, effluent in any way, they have to comply with regulations that we administer. If a mine