Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In terms of the first question you raised, I want to also point out that the Canadian Human Rights Act creates the two institutions, the commission and the Human Rights Tribunal. The whole act is keyed for the adjudication of individual breaches or individual wrongs that are bein

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The court will declare what the framework for consultation or rights determination is, but they leave the consultation or the implementation of that to government.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's the nature of our system.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It depends upon what it is you're consulting about. I don't disagree with the fact that you could develop some system that has a prior, during, and after, so it's definitely not to preclude that, but I did want to emphasize the prior only because the Supreme Court of Canada has e

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's like meeting at the airport in a way, in the sense that it hasn't really taken into account what the Supreme Court has said, and that is the consultation is with those who are affected by the decision when the Crown has knowledge it's making a decision that contemplates an i

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I have no authority to be consulted on behalf of any first nation. I don't bring their views to you based on having been authorized by them to represent to you what their views are. So I'd say it's part of the process, but it doesn't take the place of real consultation as the cou

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The judiciary interprets what the actions of government or government agents are, so I don't think the judiciary has the duty of consultation.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I just want to comment as well. I think the efforts to amend the legislation, including the international engagement of human rights standards, in terms of the political radar among the aboriginal people, is largely keyed toward the colonial legacy of the Indian Act and the prob

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I agree.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think in the present act as drafted, bringing in the amendment—I believe it's six months to delay the effect and then a period of five years for some kind of review, without any more—is a problem in terms of the law. I'd have to say that I, like you, agree with the general inte

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I haven't given much thought to that two-stage approach, but I like it in theory. I think it makes a lot of sense, because quite a few of the problems that manifest themselves as individual human rights complaints have their origins in the Indian Act. I was interested in the comm

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In 50 seconds I'd like to say—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I am in the Supreme Court. Thank you. I'd like to say that one of the problems of enacting first and consulting later is the implied assumption that it's the first nations band councils that are going to be the governance of the first nations, and that the band councils themselv

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'd jump in and say that I think you've probably heard a lot about the actual impact of repealing section 67, but I think the two issues that are preliminary, in my view, to getting this amendment through are, first of all, building in the first instance the capacity for first na

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  What the Haida case said, which I think provides good guidance, is that consultation is upstream of the breach. It's early; it's not late; it's strategic level. So, for example, if we're looking at, which we should be, a parallel human rights process through the establishment o