Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think the point is that clause 20 of the bill talks about being able to coordinate jurisdiction with not just one province but the provinces within which an indigenous people are located. Indigenous people have indigenous governing bodies. I think the legislation left it open b

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Absolutely, it's not set in stone. Again, as someone who has worked really in the trenches and at the high level, I see this as a framework. It's the framing of a house. There will need to be regulations and it just discusses regulations being developed in collaboration with in

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll take a quick shot at it. Article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child says best interests are paramount. There is a general comment on indigenous children. The challenge with best interests in Canada is that it's been used as a weapon against indigenous famili

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. I think what's very important to note is that for first nations families—my first nations family, others—the transmission of culture and spirituality has been very hard. I think the disruption that's been caused.... You had the witness speak earlier. It's been a horror. The

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. I think the question you're asking is a very important one in terms of whether this is enough to address that issue and to bring the proper focus here. I would concur with the national chief and with others who have presented. I think that it is a shift. It's a big shift, a

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The principles in substantive equality in clause 9 are very important. They're also in the preamble. In a way, I view part of this provision as the Jordan's principle provision without naming Jordan's principle. I'm not sure exactly why we can't. I think there are some statutory

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. I feel very strongly that section 88 of the Indian Act should not be mentioned in this bill. The Indian Act should not be mentioned in any way, shape or form. Any federal initiative that seeks to rehabilitate and reform the Indian Act is so fundamentally flawed that it's ju

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think the argument is not well founded. For instance, even Professor Newman appeared before you, prior to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal rendering the decision in the carbon tax reference, which put some of these issues into context, as well. I think the idea of a constitutio

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  First of all, that's quite an old case. It's an important case. There's actually an 1867 case called Connolly v. Woolrich, which is important for British Columbians because Sir James Douglas's wife's mother is the plaintiff's family. It was a Cree marriage of the country between

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much and good morning to everyone. It's an honour to be here. It's a great pleasure to join the national chief in addressing you on this significant bill and to recognize the importance of the work that members are doing. I have had the opportunity already to prese

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, there's one area that I think could benefit from clarification. In a way it's because of what I've heard in some of the misunderstandings of FPIC and these extreme views. I think we need to be moderate and respectful of our constitutional history. In particular, in the pream

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I do think that that's a very significant objective and an imperative that has already been accepted by the federal government, from what I understood from the statement of the Prime Minister on February 14 in the House of Commons. More generally, as a principle of internationa

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, I think it's very helpful, because we've had the quagmire that sometimes comes up around fundamental denial of rights, so I think it's extremely valuable to have that, because it's affirmative. Is it superfluous? No. It's affirmative, and it's important to be affirmative.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm happy to comment on some of the assumptions I'm hearing. One is that UNDRIP, in terms of article 19, seeks to promote a relationship that is collaborative. However, I want to emphasize—again, from reviewing some of the evidence, and obviously you have heard a lot—that consti

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Bill C-262 is a very significant centrepiece and serves as a national project of resetting appropriately the relationship, and reconciliation. Individual pieces of legislation, like the impact assessment legislation, should also have a reference to UNDRIP. It's not a single statu