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  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  That's assuming that they knew about the opportunity. Don't forget that the legal obligation is on the federal and provincial governments, not the other way around. It's not for first nations to try to chase committees or meetings or public consultations and say, “Hey, listen to

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  I think the most important point is that there is no one-size-fits-all. How they want to be consulted is a question that has to be asked to the Mi'kmaq nation and Treaty 4 and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. In fact, there are many first nations or aggregate groups of first nati

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Hello. Thanks for having me. Kwe, ni'n teluisi Pam Palmater. I am from the sovereign Mi'kmaq nation on unceded Mi'kmaq territory. I have been a practising lawyer for 20 years, 10 of which were spent at Justice Canada and Indian Affairs, where I received all the training in the

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  You can make any kind of argument when you go to court. The thing is, you try to put your best arguments forward and hope they stick. However, there's a critical difference in legislative drafting between a “whereas” clause and a principle versus a substantive right. When you sa

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Fair point. However, you have to keep in mind how many non-compliance orders were issued after that decision by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal—seven, I think—and they're still in court debating whether this is going to apply to all kids, especially under Jordan's principle.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I would love to respond to several things you've said. The AFN, MNC and ITK had claimed that this was going to be co-drafted, and that's not how Justice Canada actually does legislation. There is no co-drafting of legislation. So then they changed the wording, admitted it wasn'

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I agree, too. I agree with Dr. Blackstock's concerns and of course with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal decision around the need for funding. It can't be a principle; it can't be a “whereas” clause. There has to be a commitment with very specific guidelines about how that fund

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Sure. You have to look at the section you're reading it from. It's specifically about conflict in relation to provincial laws, in the circumstance where a first nation has already signed a coordination agreement, or after the one year has expired, and there is no coordination agr

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's only for provincial law, and their law trumps only in the status of a federal law. It's not that the first nation.... They're talking about the first nations law, but keep in mind, this act talks about first nations laws as federal laws. It's not just provincial laws we ha