Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  One of the direct problems was that it linked the resolution of specific claims to extinguishment. It meant that communities that were in any kind of comprehensive claims process had to sign off on their rights to have Canada's historical wrongdoings resolved and compensated for.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  First I'd like to thank the Tsawwassen for allowing us to do this work on their territory. What we hear consistently from chiefs and communities is that they want a process established.... Calls for this have been coming since 1947. You'll see in the appendix of negotiation or

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  My understanding, in terms of accessing the tribunal, is that it's to try to make it as non-adversarial as possible. Take, for instance, the idea of being able to cross-examine witnesses when most of the witnesses would be elders from communities, who hold the knowledge that some

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We would probably have to consult with the communities with that to see what they would feel comfortable with. But the idea of having joint appointments of whoever sits on the tribunal is what is the important thing.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In other circumstances where the decisions of the tribunal are binding on both parties, they agree to an arbitrator or a panel of arbitration, and this is the approach.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I should clarify too that we also do specific claims work for bands outside that membership.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No. We receive funding from RNFU to do claims work. They just provide us with a mandate, and we add them to our economy of scale.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  All we've been able to do is present, because there's been no consultation. There's been nothing to present to chiefs to get comments on and give feedback to.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Because we didn't see the legislation or the political agreements in process. It was only presented to us at the end, so we didn't--

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No. Because we didn't see the legislation or the political agreement, we had nothing to show them to get feedback on. As soon as we did, we presented it to them.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Right. That's been presented to the chiefs.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Many chiefs have, and these are the concerns they have articulated.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I don't know if those are our only two choices. I think no matter what, we have to push for the amendments that are going to make the bill do what it's intended to do.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There's potential on a bunch of different levels for the process to be as jammed up, as you say. For instance, my understanding is that the claims that have already been rejected, that may already have been in the system for 15 or 20 years, are going to have first stab at the tri

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If the goal of the bill is to get rid of the backlog and ensure the fair, just, and timely resolution of specific claims, I don't know if a “wouldn't it be better to accept it as it is” approach is the sort of approach we would necessarily think about. I think we need to push for