Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  First, our three legal councils, including Ms. Lombard, are all technically employees of the ATSSC, which falls under the Department of Justice. It puts legal council into a very awkward position. Fortunately, our legal council know that their responsibilities are to the tribunal

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I require translation.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We provided a very thorough submission to Minister Valcourt's special representative in connection with a five-year review that's called for by section 40 of the Specific Claims Tribunal Act. The special representative, Mr. Pelletier, was good enough to come back to the tribuna

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Claims entering our process are delayed due to the inability of the current complement to manage them. We're very heavy on case management, because we want everybody to be ready by the time we get to a hearing date. Some claims are simply unassigned because there's absolutely no

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The claimants make that decision, honourable member. First, these claims have to go to the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs for a decision whether or not to accept the claim for negotiation. The claims are reviewed by the specific claims branch, a department of that mi

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Angus, I am concerned. The average life of claims that come to us based on a rejection—that is, the life of that claim with the minister—is probably around 12 years. I've seen them go as long as 20. Rarely do we see one that has been in the process for less than five years. N

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That is a decision that addressed several of the more complex issues around crown fiduciary duty, particularly with British Columbia. I expect they were driven to take the matter to the tribunal because of an expired limitation period. We're dealing with historical claims, and f

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The act provides for the appointment of up to six full-time equivalents to be drawn from a roster of up to 18 judges. The idea is that there be a fairly large pool of judges who can be called upon to serve full- or part-time on the tribunal. There was no consultation with the ju

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Ms. Lombard is better able to speak to the distribution of the caseload than I am, but generally 50% of the claims come from British Columbia and Alberta. Of that 50%, 75% come from British Columbia. That's due to the history around reserve creation, which is outside of treaty in

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  With respect to the tribunal I think the challenge that first nations face, first and foremost, is a lack of adequate resources to pursue claims before the tribunal. It's turned out to be more costly than I had hoped. That's not too surprising in the early days as the proceedings

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As long as it's that finger, Mr. Fillmore.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for inviting us to attend. I'll give you a little bit of my background. I practised in the field of so-called aboriginal law for about 27 years in British Columbia in something of a nation-wide practice. I was appointed to the B.C. Supreme Court in 2001 and to the tri

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's critically important. I can only speak for myself, of course, but if I were in Vancouver and considering going on the tribunal part time, I would wish to know where I was going to work. Of course, with almost half of the claims arising in B.C

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Those two objectives on the surface seem somewhat at odds. To my mind, we are really guided by this legislation being one of several initiatives toward reconciliation. The preamble itself recognizes what our Supreme Court of Canada has often said: that the appropriate forum for t