Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think leaseholds for commercial purposes are pretty common practice, both on and off first nation lands. With leaseholds for residential purposes, depending on the nature of the residential purposes, you can have comparable values. With respect to long-term residential proper

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Obviously, first, that would have to be optional. First nations have to exercise their freedom of choice, and then it'll be their choice. What it would have to contain is regulatory harmony, as much as possible, within their regional context. A different turnkey framework would e

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think the only way you can establish the turnkey legal framework is through a piece of federal legislation, and that piece of federal legislation is being proposed right now. That might be a good place to put it. I'm not saying it can't be in other places. Can you build admini

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. First, the research in that paper demonstrated a useful statistic, I think. It's that the municipal boundary expansion process—depending on the circumstances, the ones we compared—was six times shorter than the additions to reserve process. Two reasons seem to demonstrate

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The FSMA would speed it up because it would demonstrate that the first nations have, at least in terms of the institutional gaps, local revenues and local service powers. That's very important for local governments in establishing service agreements. There is support from those i

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Can you hear me?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's a privilege to appear before this committee. Over the years, I have watched this committee advance first nation initiatives and improve first nation legislation. The research and work you're doing right now is important to first nations and all of Canada. As an introduction