44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 23, 2023
- 04:02:43 p.m.
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Qujannamiik, Iksivautaq. Thank you, Chair.
Qujannamiik to the witnesses for coming here today. I'm very excited to have you.
I'm very much of the view that, just like first nations and Inuit, Métis do have a right to self-determination. I think this bill attempts to recognize that right so that, as self-governing nations, your nations will also be recognized, and Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta will be able to make laws that impact their people. I completely understand that.
We also as a committee have been hearing a lot of concerns about first nations' and other Métis' rights being infringed upon if this bill were to pass, so I'm going to be asking a few questions to help maybe educate us more about what this bill could mean. For example, I understand that the three Métis nations as well as you mentioned earlier that you believe in UNDRIP and that it's a good thing that UNDRIP is included in this bill.
Have you read article 19 of UNDRIP?
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- 04:04:22 p.m.
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I will read it very quickly. It says:
States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.
This is an important article. You have talked about the duty to consult, which is a standard that you say hasn't been reached yet.
If you believe in UNDRIP, do you think that article 19 is being implemented during this process?
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- 04:05:50 p.m.
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What would you say to the first nations and to other Métis settlements who say that their rights are potentially being infringed upon and they feel their article 19 rights have not been respected?
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- 04:07:24 p.m.
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In the bill, in clause 8 on page 4, there is a sentence that says, “The Government of Canada recognizes that a Métis government set out in column 1 of the schedule is an Indigenous governing body that is authorized to act on behalf of the Métis collectivity set out in column 2”.
The part I want to ask you about is the question of whether those identified in that schedule are authorized. How would you help support whether they are authorized, knowing that there are Métis settlements in places like Alberta that might dispute that?
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- 04:23:15 p.m.
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Qujannamiik, Chair.
I understand that, back in September 2021, the MMF withdrew its membership with MNC over its concerns about the application of the citizenship criteria. I wonder if you could help in trying to dispel some of the myths about citizenship.
If a strong organization like MMF is saying that they challenge citizenship criteria, and you're talking about the legitimacy of it and the objectively verifiable mechanisms that are being used, I wonder if you could take this time to help explain what it is that you actually do so that you can help dispel some of those misunderstandings that exist right now.
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- 04:25:22 p.m.
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Very quickly, one of the other concerns that have been brought to me is that this is a form of identity theft. I wonder if you could help explain that it's not.
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- 05:18:11 p.m.
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Qujannamiik.
I'd like to give Grand Chief Joel Abram a very quick response to the great testimony that Dean Gladue just shared with us. I don't know if you've been hearing it in my interventions, but I hope that there's solidarity among first nations, Métis and Inuit. When I heard your testimony, I didn't hear that you want a strong sense of solidarity with Métis. I wonder, having heard Dean speak, if you could share your reaction to that.
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- 05:23:32 p.m.
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I wanted to interrupt him anyway, John.
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- 05:23:44 p.m.
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Sir, I wanted to interrupt him anyway because I want to ask Dean a question.
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- 05:24:01 p.m.
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Qujannamiik.
Dean, thank you so much for sharing your story. One of the sections in this bill talks about the three Métis nations seeking self-governance in Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan being “authorized”. With your being in British Columbia, could you describe how we could better understand how they came to be authorized to negotiate these as collectivities, what that looks like for you and why you support those three nations in that way?
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