Senator McCallum: Dispossession of land was the most devastating action against First Nations.

In the key elements of bill, the Whitecap Dakota government would have jurisdiction over the following areas: core governance, lands and resources, regulations and programs. All of this has to do with land.

Under lands and resources, it says they would have jurisdiction over lands and natural resources management. We passed the Building a Green Prairie Economy Act before Christmas where, as the sponsor, you said the province has jurisdiction or owns the natural resources. Which one is it? Who will own the natural resources? Will it be the Whitecap Dakota government or the province?

Senator Cotter: Thank you. I didn’t hear the first part of the question, Senator McCallum. I will do my best to answer the part about land.

The land focus here is on-reserve land, which would be under the full control, in terms of resource development, of the Whitecap Dakota. There are issues that you are aware of. Whitecap Dakota feel that they received an infinitesimally small set-aside of land when the people of the nation came to Canada, and they have a land-claim agreement.

In Saskatchewan, many of those land-claim agreements have been addressed. The Treaty Land Entitlement framework agreement made significant amounts of money available to First Nations after the government shorted them on what they were entitled to a century or so ago.

I can’t say for sure that it will happen in this case, but it is not unusual for First Nations to be provided with financial resources in order to purchase land — that makes it become reserve land. If they buy land that includes subsurface resources, for example, they come to own those. That has happened across Saskatchewan and, I suspect, in some other provinces as well. I hope that’s helpful.

Senator McCallum: First Nations are also masters of their own domain. How will First Nations’ leaders and advocates be informed in order to be prepared to present, and how will the committee ensure that they hear from Indigenous peoples?

Senator McCallum: I want to go back to your statement about the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement that was done unilaterally without First Nations input. That is now a huge conversation and area of concern for First Nations, and they are going to be bringing it forward. Underneath that lies the Doctrine of Discovery and how it plays into the Constitution.

Is there any way that this portion of the bill could be sent to the Indigenous Peoples Committee to study? That is huge, and I think we need to settle that before you go any further.

Senator Cotter: Ever so briefly, I think the point you make is a matter of legitimate concern, but the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement is a recent Prairie-Alberta-Saskatchewan event that actually creates the same question across the country: Who are the owners of subsurface resources, not just in Alberta and Saskatchewan but more broadly across the country? I think that question, if it were to be studied, would need to be studied on a national basis, and this bill isn’t the right fit for it, with the greatest of respect.