Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If I may, Mr. Chairman, in the materials that were provided to you, there was a one-page summary of four proposed amendments, I believe.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  You're quite correct that in the accompanying chart, there were additional amendments.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Those two document comprise all the amendments we're proposing. I might add that there is nothing in the chart that the Stoney Nations did not also put forward over the past year through the Indian Resource Council. So none of those amendments in the chart are new at all. Those

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, sir, at your request, we certainly can provide you some examples. You raise a very good point. Conceptually incorporating provincial laws makes a lot of sense. The material provided with Bill C-5 is the template upon which the bill is being proposed. The problem is that the

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The Alberta Oil and Gas Conservation Act, as an example, contains probably 150 sections. It's a voluminous statute. To incorporate it holus-bolus, without further ado, I don't think would work. Provisions can be incorporated. Certainly many of them are, in one way or the other, a

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, this relates to the question that Mr. Russell asked, too, in terms of liability. The current reality is that if there is a dispute over royalties, everybody is thrown into the pot. The Stoney Nations and other first nations have been defendants in lawsuits for royalties all

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, if I could answer the first part of the question, I'll leave the second part to the chiefs. We don't think we are changing our position. We originally provided a proposal whereby the first nation itself could put a lease into default. We're realists. We've read

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  What needs to change is that the laws applicable to the calculation and payment of royalties should be in force to the full amount. The Stoney Nations don't feel that has been done in the past. The example of the TOPGAS situation, which we enclosed with our letter, is just one

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, primarily.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, you're quite correct. The problem is that this royalty calculation provided for under the present Indian Oil and Gas Act is very complicated. It's a function of volumes and price. There are a lot of issues in regard to this calculation. You're quite right; the claims made

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, we would prefer that the details be enshrined in the bill, not in the regulations. We'd prefer an open debate on the statute itself. Regulations, it is true, can be amended very easily--perhaps too easily, from the point of view of the first nations of Stoney Nako

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The comparison with the Canada Petroleum Resources Act is a valid one. In that statute, Canada is dealing with its own royalties. Listed in considerable detail--in the statute itself, by the way, not in the regulations--are the powers of the minister when royalties are underpaid

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To answer your question, sir, you first must appreciate that oil and gas on the Stoney reserves and the oil and gas leases on the Stoney reserves are assets, not liabilities. So it's highly unlikely that an operator would allow a lease to go into defaul