Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think I've already spoken to how clarification would be very desirable. As it stands, it's open to some to understand FPIC, in particular, in one way, and others to understand it in others. The last thing we need is conflict over understandings of what UNDRIP stands for and w

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Others may have more to say, but I agree with them.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Frankly I don't see any difference. It depends on who supports it, and I gather that at second reading the government supported it. I would offer an observation that it's a bit unusual to enact legislation calling for other legislation to be enacted. Frankly, unless it's constitu

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I guess you have to start somewhere.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think the emphasis in the declaration is on seeking consent, not requiring consent. Who could contend that this is not a good idea?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll never be called upon to adjudicate the matter, so it's probably fairly safe for me to say that it's pretty clear to me, from looking at UNDRIP and the movement toward implementation, whether that be legislative or simply by policy, that Canadian common law is not likely to b

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, I agree with everything that Professors Turpel-Lafond and Borrows have said about positioning UNDRIP in relation to enactments that have some bearing on indigenous interests, including the provisions that go to the social conditions. It clearly is a positive statement, albe

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  First, does the bill obligate the government to introduce legislation purporting to fully establish in law the title of indigenous nations to historically occupied lands? Second, does it matter in the implementation of the promise of the bill whether or not a recognized indigen

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I've had the experience. Thank you, Madam Chairperson, and honourable members for this opportunity to speak on Bill C-262. I am a justice of the B.C. Supreme Court, and since 2009, chairperson of the Specific Claims Tribunal Canada. The latter is an independent tribunal with

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  My presentation is an attempt to describe in neutral language, and based only on conclusive findings of the Supreme Court of Canada, the prevailing legal context in which we see the bill introduced. I'd like to identify questions about the intended effect of the bill with respec

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's hard to say. Most of my experience as a lawyer and as a judge is in British Columbia. I actually live there sometimes, except when I'm in beautiful Ottawa. I don't know how many groups would be aggregated to pursue treaty negotiations in British Columbia, but some think it's

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The problem with timelines is, what if they don't get met? Where do you go then? The Nisga'a treaty took 25 years. To my mind, the issue is, how do treaty negotiations get moved along when they're policy based and one party to the negotiation created the policy? That party has al

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  What kind of legislation? If we're looking at implementing recognition of indigenous groups and their territories, I don't think it's for government to do that legislatively. I think the indigenous groups have to define themselves, but there needs to be some connection to that co

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm certainly not going to endorse the idea that we have legislatively based entrenched racism. What we have in my view is the colonial legacy of racism that has produced the reserve system and has thoroughly marginalized indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples as individual Can