Public Safety committee  Thank you for your question. Both of those things do trouble me deeply in relation to this bill. I think that one of the great difficulties for myself as a first nations organizer and activist is that information may or may not be being gathered about me and the work I'm doing or the work that my colleagues are doing.

Public Safety committee  Just that I think this is a time for clarity and transparency and commitment to reconciliation.

Public Safety committee  It squares in really troubling ways with what I very commonly hear being spoken of in relation to our work. I think that simply because I exist, there are people who believe I am a threat to the Canadian interest and Canadian society and Canadian security. I am a first nations woman who lives on my family's and my community's and my nation's unceded territory.

Public Safety committee  Yes, I have really deep concerns that the kinds of practices that Bill C-51 would allow, and that similar pieces of legislation allow, do a great deal of damage to first nations people, or have the potential to do a great deal of damage to first nations people, who are defending their rights and interests.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. One of the difficulties that I face in my work interfacing between my community and the broader Canadian society at large is a great deal of persistent racism and misconceptions about what it means to be an indigenous person and to stand up for indigenous rights in this country.

Public Safety committee  I would like to begin by thanking the committee for the invitation to speak to you today. As I have been introduced, my name is Jessie Housty. I am a first nations woman from the Heiltsuk Nation, who come from the outer coast of British Columbia. The geography of my homeland is part of western Canada's front line of activism in response to multiple forms of resource extraction.

Public Safety committee  Yes, absolutely.