Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Downtown London, England.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's crown land. You can only lease it. I haven't done a detailed study on this. This is just what I've heard in discussion with people who should know. There are parts of New England in the United States, a good part of Southeast Asia.... They're former Commonwealth lands. They

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  My impression is that in Canada we've fallen into a little bit of a false debate. I think, originally, as a straw man it was posited that all the efforts have gone in to make the reserve system and the Indian Act, or however it's been touted by the speaker, work, but it doesn't w

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The advantages and disadvantages are fairly apparent. The work that's been led by Manny Jules and company is bringing those issues forward. My own view is that this is a false debate. There are some first nations who clearly want to move in the direction of the legislation that's

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The key point is that whatever their status or to whomever they were sold, they would remain first nations land. My concern is that this initiative is going to serve, at least in the short to medium term, very few first nations. It's been designed for very few first nations. The

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I hesitate getting into that because that's a political discussion with the first nations. I think you should ask them. My problem is that the instruments, short of fee simple and the kind of legislative initiatives being proposed, have never been used properly to begin with.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Let's take leaseholds as an example. There's no reason you can't lease land on reserve, for example. There are whole parts of the world where corporate and foreign interests can only lease land.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm honoured to have been asked to talk to you today. My understanding is that the committee, as part of its work, is seeking a better understanding of the key issues and challenges related to first nations land and environmental management on reserve.