(Chair) in the chair.

[Translation]

Good morning, honourable senators, and welcome to this meeting of the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs.

[English]

My name is Brent Cotter, a senator from Saskatchewan and chair of the committee. I’d like to invite my colleagues to introduce themselves.

Senator Denise Batters from the great province of Saskatchewan.

[Translation]

Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu, from the senatorial division of de La Salle, Quebec.

[English]

Dennis Patterson, Inuit Nunangat, senator for Nunavut.

Paul Prosper, senator for Nova Scotia, traditional territory of the Mi’kmaq.

[Translation]

Renée Dupuis, senatorial division of The Laurentides, Quebec.

[English]

Senator LaBoucane-Benson, Treaty 6 Territory, Alberta.

Paula Simons, Alberta, Treaty 6 territory.

Kim Pate. I live here on the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe.

Senator Bernadette Clement, Ontario.

Mobina Jaffer from British Columbia. Welcome.

Thank you, honourable senators.

We’re meeting again today to continue our study of Bill S-13, An Act to amend the Interpretation Act and to make related amendments to other Acts.

For our first panel today, we’re pleased to welcome the Métis National Council, in person, Cassidy Caron, President. Welcome, Ms. Caron. And Ryan Chawner, Acting Director, Justice and Legislative Affairs. Welcome and thanks for joining us.

We’ll begin with opening remarks, President Caron, of five minutes or so. If it gets too long, I’ll give you a signal. Following that, we will have questions and dialogue with senators. The floor is yours.

Thank you so much. Tansi. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for having me here today. I also want to recognize that I’m grateful to be here as a visitor on Anishinaabe Algonquin territory.

The Métis National Council is the recognized national and international representative of the Métis Nation in Canada, since 1983. The Métis National Council, or MNC, is comprised of and receives its mandate from democratically elected leadership within the provincial Métis governments currently within the provinces of Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

Our Métis governments, through their registries and democratically elected governance structures at the local, regional and provincial levels, are mandated and authorized to represent Métis citizens within their respective jurisdictions, including dealing with collectively held Métis rights, interests and outstanding claims against the Crown.

Since 1983, the Métis National Council’s priority has always been and will remain Métis citizens, and we will continue advancing issues of collective importance and serving the Métis Nation as our original founders intended.

Thank you so much for having us here today to speak to Bill S-13. I want to start by saying that the Métis National Council supports Bill S-13 in its current form, which amends the Interpretation Act and other legislation, to ensure that Canada’s laws are construed as upholding the Aboriginal and treaty rights of Indigenous peoples, recognized and affirmed by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 and not as abrogating or derogating from them.

The recognition of the rights of Métis peoples affirmed in Canada’s Constitution is a fundamental element of Crown-Indigenous relationships. The Métis National Council agrees that Bill S-13 is part of Canada’s commitment to building renewed nation-to-nation and government-to-government relationships with the Métis Nation based on an affirmation of rights.

The Métis National Council and its governing members have long advocated for these amendments so that Canada’s laws are interpreted as upholding, not diminishing, Métis rights protected under section 35 of the Constitution.

That said, the Métis National Council does have concerns with Canada’s introduction of this bill. Métis governments wanted efficiency from Canada on legislating a non-derogation clause, but such efficiency cannot come at the cost of Canada’s statutory obligations. Participation in traditional stakeholder processes like this committee hearing does not constitute consultation and cooperation sufficient to discharge Canada’s statutory obligations under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, also known as UNDRIP.

Despite these concerns, this amendment is uncontroversial and long overdue. Métis governments are familiar with the language, they support it and have already adopted it in their Métis government recognition and self-government agreements.

Again, thank you for having me here today, and I look forward to your questions.

Thank you, Ms. Caron. We’ll begin questions with the sponsor of the bill, Senator LaBoucane-Benson.

Thank you so much, president, for being here. It’s always nice to see you. I really value your remarks.

Am I correct to say that you wish you would have been consulted in a different way? If I’m correct, can you describe what that would have looked like?

Sure. Of course, under section 5 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, it obligates Canada to take all measures necessary in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous peoples to ensure that the laws of Canada are consistent with the UN declaration and to engage with the Métis Nation on this.

We didn’t have any significant conversation with the minister, the department or anybody involved in the development of this bill. The emails that were sent out to say, “you can submit your thoughts on this bill” do not satisfy consultation or cooperation. Based on the nation-to-nation, government-to-government relationship that we have with the Government of Canada, we would have preferred to have actual conversations and delve into the issues that pertain to this bill prior to it being introduced.

Thank you for that. I really appreciate you drawing back to UNDRIP and the section that talks about consultation as one of the bedrocks of the UN declaration.

I hear what you’re saying, but you’re still supporting this bill because it’s something you’ve been working on for decades. I understand that. If we were to bring an amendment forward to this bill, what consultation would be required within Métis National Council, or MNC, to contemplate it?

We would want to see the exact language that would be proposed, and then we have our own internal processes at the Métis National Council where we work with our Métis governments to have conversations about this to garner support or to be able to present even further amendments to the language. We would use our internal processes to do just that and then be able to come back to you with our support or further amendments.

Okay. I think what I’m hearing you say, and correct me if I’m wrong, is that you value expediency. Do you want this bill to go through as is, or do you want it to be amended in a way that your people would be satisfied with?