Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Would that be on reserve?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The $300,000 reference was to the amount that a spouse would be entitled to under the new B.C. act. The surviving spouse would get the first $300,000 of the estate, and then it would go down from there, to the children and next of kin. It's hard to ballpark, frankly, what it mi

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Would this be a circumstance where the department is administering the estate?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's good to be back. I want to thank you for inviting me here to talk about this really important topic. It is complex, and I know it's kind of a vexing issue for a number of first nations and first nations individuals. Just by way of background, I'm a m

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  This is where I part ways with my colleagues at the CBA. I think any legislation is going to have to be limited in scope and probably based on the model that we see coming out of the Prairies—a process for adding land to reserve and a process for pre-designation. For anything bey

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Absolutely. Obviously there is some merit there if there is a proposal that's time sensitive. If Canada has agreed to set such lands aside as reserve and the nation comes together and votes on that proposal...when the order goes forward, there's the addition to reserve order—wh

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In the first nations context or...?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Absolutely. Obviously, the court cases talk about early engagements, sharing of all relevant, available information. The courts speak of doing a preliminary assessment, so the challenge for first nations is this issue of overlapping territories and first nations filing these maps

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to thank the committee for inviting me back...[Inaudible—Editor]

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Okay, go ahead. I want to thank the mayor for being so kind as to offer me his chair. I am not Ernie Daykin; I am not the mayor of Maple Ridge. My name is John Gailus. I'm a member of the Haida Nation of British Columbia. I worked for almost five years with the Department of

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think the concern there is twofold. The act as it currently stands is very clear on what the quorum is for a meeting—it's 50% plus one—whereas the amendments that are being proposed rather leave it open. If I'm meeting with a client or I'm meeting with a developer and I say,

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Certainly the current state of affairs is unacceptable in terms of how long it takes from getting a project proposal to having a lease in place. As I think I said in my opening comments, eliminating the double majority requirement and eliminating the Governor in Council requireme

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'd agree with the comments of Chief Thunder and Mr. Shanks on this. I think there isn't a silver bullet; there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution out there. When you're looking at first nations, you see there are some common aspirations. They want autonomy. However, there are l

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is good to be back. Just by way of background for the members, I am a lawyer. Please don't hold that against me. I'm sure there are a lot of you in the room. I am a member of the Haida Nation on the northwest coast of British Columbia. I am also a forme

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I see two problems with the designation process, and one of them is the double majority requirement. It's one of those unintended consequences that comes from the Corbiere case, which dealt with the elections on reserves. Subsequent to Corbiere, the designation requirements were