Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Adam. Let me say this. Engagement with officials is sometimes a massive challenge, especially federally. When they talk about FNIHB, again, that department is keeping an old policy that should have been thrown out with the garbage a long time ago, because it

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If you don't mind, Marcus, let me start off with Manitoba. Of course you know we're in red and orange. We're definitely in one hell of a crisis here right now. It's a scary place to be right now. We're at 97% capacity in our hospitals province-wide. There's just no way that anybo

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you again for that question, Mr. Vidal. From our perspective, as I said, I do commend the federal government on this action. If there's a lesson to be learned here, this is a good one. It is working. The ministers are stepping in behind the scenes and making it clear that

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for allowing us to come to this very important committee. I want to start off by saying good morning to everyone and thank you to the members of the committee for inviting me to speak today. My apologies for a late submission that is coming your

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Okay. I usually don't read, Mr. Chairman. I speak off the cuff, but I wanted to give this particular committee the respect and the information it deserves on such an important message. I think it was very important for us to share as best we can. We've made it very clear from ou

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Okay, I'll stop there, Mr. Chairman.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Go ahead.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for that question. As I said in my earlier references, this is the blueprint that gives clarity for everyone. I think when you look at it from the context.... That's why, if you heard me loud and clear, this is not a veto. You could record me over and over, and we woul

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, they're not. I don't see it that way, because I see duty to consult as responsibility. It's a legal responsibility that industry and governments have. Free and prior—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think I'm much older than you. During my lifetime, duty to consult just resonated itself into the works of our language today.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I mean, 30 or 40 years ago you didn't even see this happening. Only in the last several decades has the duty to consult been grabbing at better footing in this country. When you start to translate free and prior consent, let's understand really clearly what is actually.... I de

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, I don't have to look. I can tell you right now. I think the message in UNDRIP is very clear. It allows indigenous governments to be governments. It sets the clarity of recognizing them as governments. The Métis nation has the responsibility—governments have the responsibility

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Let me start off this way, Mr. Powlowski. I travel the world quite a bit. I'm doing some work with indigenous people in Colombia. I've been going back and forth for a number of years now. We've been involved in the United Nations declaration since 1984-85, when the first discus

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In western Canada, you're first nation, Métis nation or Inuit. Those are the three peoples that you will find in western Canada. From our perspective, there are a lot of similarities in the matters that we look for in the environment and the lands and mutual sharing of how we wor

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Let me say this. There is one particular amendment that we would support as long as it doesn't.... I'll tell you why. Thank you for your kind words. The reason we're not making any amendments.... This is not a perfect document—all of us in this room know that—but it's a good