Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. In 11 days it will be the 10th anniversary of the passing of this legislation. I want to thank all parties and all governments for their continued support for this valuable initiative. You have to ask your

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. My community, the Squamish First Nation, was one of the communities that were proponents of the land management act. We see the land management act as essential in gaining the confidence of the private sector that timely decisions can be made. It removes the obligati

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for the question. I think it's also important to remember that these legislative changes do not change the optionality of this legislation. Nobody who is not part of this, or who doesn't want to be part of this, will be impacted. Only those who have already committed t

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  What we've seen since 2005 is that many communities that did not see economic opportunity, could not see how they could benefit from this legislation, are now being confronted with economic development opportunities, particularly in the north, as a result of all of the major init

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for that question. It is very timely. We are now in a position where there is going to be a lot of potential wealth transfer. It is my view that we don't invest early in capacity and community development. Arriving at the door with a bunch of money in the absence of tha

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The process that we engage in with the community is for them to develop a financial administration law, which is not dissimilar to your Financial Administration Act. We also measure financial performance. In order to get to the borrowing pool, you have to submit five years of fin

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  They do?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll take a run at it. We're the gatekeeper. The financial management board is required to certify before they can get to borrow, before the tax commission can approve a borrowing law. Part of the impediments are history. The fact that you need to have five years of financial sta

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, we do. I'm pleased to say that many communities are now coming forward to us because they would eventually like to tax and they would eventually like to borrow, but with their current circumstances, they can see, when they look on our website, that they're not going to meet

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We look to creating partnerships, both with government and industry. If we're going to have major economic development in this country, and there are going to be impact benefit agreements resulting from that.... The question that was asked earlier was about what should be in thos

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you Madam Chair. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to appear before you. I want to remind everyone, because sometimes we forget, that this legislation, when it was passed in 2005, was passed with all-party support. This is not a partisan issue. We've never come to t

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's where we're starting from. Why is financial management important? Minister Bennett came to me over a year ago and asked, “Will you help us look at intervention?” I said we will, but only if it involves capacity development; only if it involves our being able to get those

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Go ahead, Madame Trottier.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think we need to recognize that we have the fastest-growing demographic in the country. Fiscally, we have been in a period of restraint in this country. Funding levels have not kept pace. There hasn't been any economic development. Many chiefs and councils find themselves str