Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I appreciate that. I don't think we're alone. We call it economic reconciliation, but the communities in northern Saskatchewan pushed for inclusion in the opening of these uranium mines in the late 1970s. When I was growing up in the Northwest Territories and got the opportunity

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for the question. Des Nedhe oversees all the land and environment for the community. I have a wonderful band member who runs a process, so we look at it differently. Again, we're in a provincial jurisdiction that's very strong at promoting mining and mineral resources.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I would fully support it. As I mentioned, I'm a believer that we need to act like we control and own the land already. There's a concept that we never gave it up. The act of providing land back would be a great step forward in reconciliation, of course, but I think we need to cha

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. Of course, there's an identity tied to it. You've seen with groups like James Bay Cree and the Tlicho in Northwest Territories and with Nunavut that pride of managing and being on your own lands, one hundred per cent. Examples like that go above and beyond just economic deve

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. We see positive impacts. It's a holistic viewpoint. To have a healthy culture, to have healthy health and to have happiness within your communities you need a strong socio-economic base. You need a diversified economy. You need the same options that people in urban centres h

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There are a couple of examples. On comprehensive land claim agreements, where the resource is located on first nations or Inuit on Inuit-owned lands, it creates dividends and payments into large trust funds that then support the social well-being of the community. In our instance

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In certain pockets I think it has to be done correctly. You have to have proponents who are going to listen and look at three things from an environmental perspective. First is how our traditional knowledge is ingrained in the project design. Second is how we are included within

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's another great invention coming out of the first nations of Saskatchewan. It was driven with the premise that.... English River is an example. In the summer months, they'd go up to their hunting and trapping grounds in northern Saskatchewan. When the treaty commissioner came

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  One hundred per cent.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, if I drive, it's only four and a half hours—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  —but it's about 650 kilometres. The traditional boundary goes up.... If you get a map of Saskatchewan out, the heart of northern Saskatchewan is Cree Lake. That's the most northern tip of English River's traditional hunting and trapping grounds, the most northern reserve. That's

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I come from a context where it's indigenous land regardless. We just have to act like it's our land, like we have from time immemorial. Public policy-makers have such a challenge, because 90% of the population lives within 100 kilometres of the border. That population is aging.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. Thank you, Mr. Vidal, for the question. That is located on first nation lands that we obtained through treaty land entitlement. Again, it goes to the community's viewpoint about creating economic development through land purchases. They created the largest grocery store at

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm very happy to, Mr. Vidal. They secured that land 20-plus years ago through treaty land entitlement. Because the city and, at the time, the RM were quite frightened that a first nation was buying land around Saskatoon, everyone was paralyzed and they didn't want to help the c

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Good afternoon. It is my great pleasure to be here this afternoon with you to provide my words around how Canada can support innovative and sustainable solutions to provide restitution of land to first nations, Inuit and Métis peoples across Canada. First, let me recognize that