Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I guess there are historic treaties in Canada. There are the peace and friendship treaties, and the numbered treaties that exist across Canada. We call those historic treaties. For those treaties, we have a process through specific claims, where a first nation that has signed a t

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I work in a specific area, particularly around negotiations, and you're talking about generally within the department how do we develop these policies. We have a certain internal structure whereby with any new policy proposal and policy work...we make sure that where somebody els

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Sure. I can say that in modern treaties they usually include economic measures provisions, which include, for example, preferential contracting for aboriginal claiming groups. I think last time Michel Roy, who's our assistant deputy minister, mentioned that there's now a website

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I spent a lot of years as a negotiator. Sometimes you write down text that at the time seems clear to the people who are negotiating. Later on, though, when other people are looking at the document, it can take on a different meaning. It's sometimes difficult to state what the me

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think in all cases we try to have more of a sort of collaborative approach. Certainly there are some negotiation tables we're at that are very interest-based and we try to progress together. At other tables, where the issues are perhaps more tense, it's more difficult to do tha

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  This is another aspect. I'll touch upon consultation, because I think that's important. Through consultation we have a better understanding of what the aboriginal interests are. At the same time, I think it's good practice, because we're able to formulate proposals or decisions

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I was just going to say that to my understanding there is no government-wide policy, but I think that honour of the crown helps to inform several different policies. There are many different policies within each department that would—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think these interim guidelines are some. I think policies around—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's right.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In February 2008 the Government of Canada released interim aboriginal consultation accommodation guidelines, which are available publicly.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I will just keep on the theme. You asked generally about how we try to incorporate honour of the crown into government dealings. As Charles said, it is an overall federal government responsibility, not just that of Indian Affairs. With respect to honour of the crown, my personal