Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Think about flooding, as an example. It's a temporary hopefully short-term emergency in which you need extra resources and extra support. Sometimes first nations can do it themselves if they have their own support, and sometimes they might need emergency management folks to come

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  First of all, all the funding that comes from the federal government is own-source revenue. All of the money that's in Canada comes from our lands and resources, so we're just talking about “let us control our own money”. Second, there's no reason why first nations couldn't be r

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for your question. It's true, I did about 10 years' hard time in the feds. I'm almost rehabilitated, but one of the really eye-opening things about working at INAC, especially as a director of lands, was that we'd sit around a senior management table and have to make de

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's exactly it, because of everything that INAC is mandated to do. While there are 5,000 employees and billions of dollars appropriated by Parliament, we only get half of that. If the reason is to improve our lives and to improve social and economic well-being, then do it. Eve

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Hi. [Witness speaks in Mi'kmaq] I am from the sovereign Mi'kmaq Nation on unceded Mi'kmaq territory. I acknowledge that we are here on unceded Algonquin territory, as well, which carries a huge responsibility. I hope that every one of the committee members recognizes what a

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

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. End gender discrimination and support a Senate amendment. When you get rid of discrimination, that is the guarantee. Promises of reporting are nothing. We've had those before. Quite honestly, you can move forward in a staged process to deal with Indian registration and ban

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  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 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

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

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  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