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.