Leah Gazan, Winnipeg Centre
“I want the minister to answer my question and drop this bill. Many First Nations groups oppose it and are taking the government to court. The government rushed consultations and ignored Indigenous treaty rights. It acts like it is above the Constitution and the law.”
“Mr. Speaker, on October 26 of this year, I asked the resources minister if he really respected indigenous rights and, if so, whether he would withdraw Bill C-39. I asked that in response to the BCAFN, UBCIC, Treaty 6, Onion Lake, NAN, COO, APNQL and the Iroquois Confederacy requesting the withdrawal of Bill C-39. Those organizations represent hundreds of thousands of first nations people. Not only did the minister refuse to respond to me, he had the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations respond to me. I was not quite sure that particular day why the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources refused to respond. I thought perhaps he was starting to agree with me that all the government was doing was building a pipeline to the courts. Then I found out today that more nations are coming forward in opposition to all the new projects that are being designated, nine today alone, nine from the St’át’imc Chiefs Council that consist of and represent, again, hundreds of thousands of first nations, because of the government’s failure to exercise its power under the Building Canada Act consistently with the statutory imperatives arising from the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. They argued that the government rushed the consultation, provided insufficient information about the project and failed to adequately consider its potential impacts on first nations treaty rights. Cold Lake First Nations is another first nation that has also put forward an application for judicial review. It has also stated it was not properly consulted or engaged at all by the Major Projects Office. It was asking for a designation of the Pacific link as a national interest project to be reversed and for a declaration that Canada has a duty to consult on the project. Now, I am starting to put things together, and I am hoping to get some clarification today. Whether it is violating the constitutional rights of workers, gutting environmental protections or brushing aside the rights of indigenous people, the government believes that it is above the Constitution and above the rule of law. I am starting to believe that, for the government, perhaps the reason is that when there is a bunch of former CEOs leading the country, they think that they are above our Constitution and human rights.”
Mr. Speaker, on October 26 of this year, I asked the resources minister if he really respected indigenous rights and, if so, whether he would withdraw Bill C-39. I asked that in response to the BCAFN, UBCIC, Treaty 6, Onion Lake, NAN, COO, APNQL and the Iroquois Confederacy requesting the withdrawal of Bill C-39. Those organizations represent hundreds of thousands of first nations people. Not only did the minister refuse to respond to me, he had the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations respond to me. I was not quite sure that particular day why the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources refused to respond. I thought perhaps he was starting to agree with me that all the government was doing was building a pipeline to the courts. Then I found out today that more nations are coming forward in opposition to all the new projects that are being designated, nine today alone, nine from the St’át’imc Chiefs Council that consist of and represent, again, hundreds of thousands of first nations, because of the government’s failure to exercise its power under the Building Canada Act consistently with the statutory imperatives arising from the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. They argued that the government rushed the consultation, provided insufficient information about the project and failed to adequately consider its potential impacts on first nations treaty rights. Cold Lake First Nations is another first nation that has also put forward an application for judicial review. It has also stated it was not properly consulted or engaged at all by the Major Projects Office. It was asking for a designation of the Pacific link as a national interest project to be reversed and for a declaration that Canada has a duty to consult on the project. Now, I am starting to put things together, and I am hoping to get some clarification today. Whether it is violating the constitutional rights of workers, gutting environmental protections or brushing aside the rights of indigenous people, the government believes that it is above the Constitution and above the rule of law. I am starting to believe that, for the government, perhaps the reason is that when there is a bunch of former CEOs leading the country, they think that they are above our Constitution and human rights.
