Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm afraid I don't know the specific circumstances, but in terms of Canada's overall approach to negotiations, that sounds as if it would be running against the honour of the crown in terms of negotiations. So I--

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We're in the process of translating our latest impact assessment, so once that's accomplished, we'd be happy to share it with as many people as possible. We'll be posting it on our website as well.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  What we try to do with the impact assessment is look at something that is similar to the United Nations human development index. We looked at education and a number of indicators on labour force participation rates, on unemployment and employment, because those two differ, and we

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In answer to your first question, we currently have the band council system in place. But in order to move towards self-government, we are trying to find a government system that the council deems to be both legitimate and practical for the members of the community. All these iss

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, that’s the system we have to deal with. We have to comply with the legislation the way it is, but a big part of negotiations and consultations still includes consultations with the people of the community.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In our discussions and negotiations, we need to have a system in order to ratify the agreement and make sure that people are consulted. Not only do people have to vote on the self-government agreement, but they also have to vote on the constitution of the community that will be c

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We take it into account when ratifications fall through, which we have seen in the past. When that happens, we stop the agreement and the constitution. The agreement does not come into force.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The question is particularly complicated. It straddles a number of our different areas. Of course I can't speak for any of the provincial governments, but they too are bound by Supreme Court decisions in respect to consultation and necessary accommodation. They need to be very aw

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In terms of relationships and accountability, yes, there is accountability back to other governments, particularly other governments that are providing funding. With respect to environmental management, because Canada has a relatively complex web of environmental management, fi

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As levels of government, yes, in the sense that municipalities represent a level of government, and provinces represent a level of government. The treaty sets out the roles and responsibilities of each level of government in that context for any number of things, but including en

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The short answer is yes. The longer answer would be that the treaty sets out the roles and responsibilities of the first nation in respect of those kinds of issues, and also their relationship and roles and responsibilities vis-à-vis the provincial government and vis-à-vis the fe

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There are a couple of things in your question. One of our challenges, of course, is balancing the ongoing negotiations--and there are a number of first nations who are actively pursuing settling their negotiations, settling their comprehensive claim in B.C. right now--notwithst

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Very quickly, in a sense, it's quite right. The first thing we said when we sat down at the common table is that we did not have a mandate to negotiate changes to federal mandates at the common table. However, some very interesting things came out of the common table that are con

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. One of the things that came out of the political agreement with the specific claims renewal was that we held a treaty conference in March 2008. Coming out of that, one of the things we're doing is working with the Assembly of First Nations and the Federation of Saskatchewan

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes there were, I visited the Naskapis to discuss this very issue, and the meetings are ongoing. As you pointed out, they're concerned about the agreement with Nunavik, but I think they're now working with the Inuit in order to find solutions to these concerns.