International Trade committee  It's not dedicated. It's a legal responsibility. Also, relying on votes and representative government ignores the fact that first nations are no less than a third order of government in this country, with their own jurisdiction, their own mandates, and their own laws that are not

International Trade committee  How does Canada react to the fact that Canadians don't all agree with Prime Minister Trudeau, or provincial residents don't all agree with him? The requirement isn't that every individual agrees. We're talking about government-to-government negotiations on constitutional rights.

International Trade committee  Well, I guess you could ask all those questions of the federal, provincial, and municipal governments.

International Trade committee  Politics is politics. However, Canada hasn't done the job of asking. They haven't done the job of saying, “Okay, we've pronounced nation-to-nation. We've cried tears and made apologies, but we haven't got down to the actual mechanics of it. How are we going to engage on a nation-

International Trade committee  Not all indigenous peoples vote. A record number did vote in the last election, but you're still looking at less than half the population voting in federal or provincial elections, because they don't feel that federal or provincial governments represent them and their particular

International Trade committee  Before negotiations even start, the federal government has already consulted with first nations and gotten their perspectives and their consent on things like the annex list of what's a tradeable good. What should be on there? Most first nations would say water shouldn't be a tra

International Trade committee  Yes, I've been given a five-minute public presentation in a committee consultation, which, as you know, is exceptionally restrained and limited. First nations' leaders and their communities have not been consulted on any of these by the federal government, including Mercosur. Non

International Trade committee  One is that it's not negotiated or signed without first nations at the negotiating table. Two is that indigenous rights are paramount, that first nations have a direct benefit from all of these, and not just jobs and contracts, which is the usual throw-away that they offer first

International Trade committee  First off, it literally has to be the federal government going to first nations, not the Assembly of First Nations, not political organizations, but the rights holders themselves, and providing information on what's potentially in these agreements, who benefits, and what the pote

International Trade committee  There were no first nation consultations at all on NAFTA, TPP, CETA, or Mercosur. First nations have specific, particular rights and different consultation standards separate from the public consultations.

International Trade committee  Good morning. [Witness speaks in Mi'kmaq] I'm Pam Palmater. I am from the sovereign Mi'kmaq nation on unceded territories of the Mi'kma'ki, which is most of the eastern provinces. It is an honour to be here on sovereign Algonquin territory having this discussion. Thank you fo

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think you might have misunderstood what I was saying. I was saying that with regard to gender discrimination, INAC has been consulting for decades and decades, and you don't get to consult on whether or not to discriminate. On issues like band membership, funding, and all of t

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Definitely, that clause should be deleted. We also recommended that the same section in Bill S-3 be deleted. It acts as an incentive to allow the government to continue to discriminate with impunity until they choose to address it or are forced to address it on their good old tim

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I would tell her three primary things if she came and spoke to the people impacted. One, that a rigid, non-negotiable position is not only a sign of bad faith, it's a breach of her legal fiduciary obligations to always act in the best interest of first nations, and that is supp

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for your question. No is the answer. There is zero comfort in a staged process. We've been in a staged process since the 1970s. Stage one was Sandra Lovelace, with promises of consultations and amendments to the Indian Act. That didn't happen. Stage two was McIvor. A