Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, I'm sorry, Mr. Battiste. I'm not going to talk about scrip in one minute, and also just because it does not have anything to do with this legislation. I'd love to go for coffee with you and talk about the scrip system and future processes to settle those historical grievanc

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I don't think I can answer that question, quite honestly, because it's hard to comprehend. I'm going to Saskatchewan right after this, and I'd love to find those individuals and have that conversation with them, so that I could potentially clarify that with them. Once again, mem

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The recognition is that this piece of legislation has been longer delayed than just since 2018. It has been delayed since 1982. Once again, simply put, it is time.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No. Again, I want to refer the members to each of the Métis self-government agreements. Nothing in this agreement or the implementation legislation extinguishes, defines, creates, modifies, limits, prejudices, restricts or surrenders any Métis right.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, I can't speak to that. I'm sorry.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Is that for the treaties? Yes, absolutely, there will be ratification of the treaties by our people who choose to be represented by those governments.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Métis people will have a voice through the ratification process. If the treaties impact others' rights, those will be consulted on. I want to talk about the ratification processes that have taken place up until this date. The Métis Nation of Alberta went through a process of de

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's just not. Métis people are recognized as one of the three indigenous peoples within section 35. There are Métis, first nations and Inuit. We know who we are. We know where we come from. We have a history. We have rights. We are the Métis nation. This piece of legislation si

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  First and foremost, Bill C-53 is not about benefits. It is about the internal governance of these Métis governments. Citizens have the opportunity to choose who represents them and who delivers programs and services to them. If an individual is satisfied with the governmental st

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, because there is no pie whereby the Métis Nation of Alberta is taking three-quarters of this pie and the settlements are taking this quarter. There are different ways and different approaches to doing that. It's important, again, to reference 15.05 of the MNA's self-governme

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's in there.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Once again, I would refer to our objectively verifiable registries, the strict processes and policies that are in place for citizenship, again, making it clear that citizenship is something that is self-determined by the nation. That is a right of the Métis nation. All of these

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Once again, this legislation is about only the three Métis governments—how they govern themselves, how they run their elections and how they take care of their children. What is in this legislation did not trigger any duty to consult with first nations because it does not affect

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  This bill is the culmination of the last 40 years of implementing the promise of section 35 to Métis. There have been, as I stated, from 1982 up until just this past 2023, many promises that tell us we are going to get there and we are going to achieve self-government, which is a

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I want to once again say that all of our Métis governments apply the 2002 definition of Métis citizen that has been voted on and approved by the Métis National Council. On the processes that are implemented, each of our Métis governments has their own citizenship registries. Th