Honourable senators, we’re already on Bill C-29, so we are moving at lightning speed here.

I have just a couple of comments on Bill C-29. In the preamble, it states:

Whereas the Government of Canada is committed to achieving reconciliation with Indigenous peoples through renewed nation-to-nation, government-to-government and Inuit-Crown relationships based on recognition of rights, respect, cooperation and partnership . . . .

Colleagues, that sounds very nice. Those are beautiful words. I have seen this before and I have seen it too often.

If we move along to clause 10 of the proposed bill, we have the proposed directors of the board of this new organization, namely representatives of the Assembly of First Nations, the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Métis National Council and the Native Women’s Association of Canada.

Colleagues, the last time that I checked, there were five recognized and funded national Indigenous organizations in Canada. I don’t know if it’s by design or just a simple omission, but there is no proposition to have on this board any member of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, which I used to lead as national chief.

Like I said, section 35 of the Constitution gives us a definition of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada. It says that the term “aboriginal peoples of Canada includes . . .” — is not limited to, but includes — “. . . the Indian, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada.”

Now, it doesn’t say that these peoples are going to be represented specifically by Indigenous organizations.

Colleagues, for those who don’t know, on June 11, 2008, the former government and the former prime minister offered an apology in the House of Commons. I was able to be there, along with four other Indigenous leaders at the time.

On June 12, 2008, the next day, Indigenous leaders were to give speeches in the Senate — on the original Senate floor. Colleagues, I had to fight my way to make sure that I was able to speak the next day because we were not on the list. The Senate at the time had to introduce a motion to allow the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples to speak.

I do not know what is going on with political parties, but they are playing partisanship politics with Indigenous peoples. There will be a time where I will speak more in depth about the political relationship between Indigenous peoples and the Government of Canada since Confederation. But, colleagues, I think that when this bill goes to committee, it is absolutely necessary that the Minister of Indian Affairs appear before the committee — not bureaucrats — and tell us why they have excluded one of the national Indigenous organizations, one that has been in existence since 1971.

For those of you who do not know, we often talk about the “big three” organizations: the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Assembly of First Nations and the Métis National Council. Well, colleagues, the Métis National Council came out of what was originally called the Native Council of Canada, which is the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples today. Many of the people who are on the Métis National Council today broke off from the Native Council of Canada in the 1980s.

I will just remind you, colleagues, that, in my view, being a former elected Indigenous leader of an organization in this country, there are five organizations, and it is up to the minister to tell us why he has excluded one of them. If there is an exclusion of one recognized Indigenous organization, I fail to see how there is any respect, cooperation or partnership here.

At the end of the day, these organizations are not the organizations that are going to be negotiating nation-to-nation partnerships with the Government of Canada. They don’t have that right. They are Indigenous organizations, so this nation-to-nation concept is not going to happen with those organizations. The nation-to-nation concept will happen with the Algonquin nation, the Mi’kmaq nation, et cetera.

To conclude, these five Indigenous organizations — four, in particular — were created because of the 1969 white paper that was introduced by the current Prime Minister’s father. We must not forget that these organizations are also funded by the Government of Canada. It is unfortunate that I have to say this, but if these organizations decide not to play ball with the government of the day, sometimes they are punished. I certainly hope this is not the case for the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples. They are one of the recognized organizations, and they deserve to be there. If they are not there, hopefully we’ll hear from the minister as to exactly what the reason or reasons are why this organization, which has been around since 1971, has not been included. Thank you.

Thank you very much for your questions. With respect to the membership numbers of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, the Assembly of First Nations does not have individual members; the Métis National Council has individual members and organizations, but with respect to the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, they are made up of provincial affiliate organizations, which are predominantly strong in Eastern Canada right now. The Métis National Council is stronger in the West for historical and other reasons.

I’ll try to answer your question with respect to my experience. In the early 2000s, the former Martin government had decided at that time — leading up to the negotiations that led to the Kelowna Accord, which never happened — that they just wanted to deal with the Assembly of First Nations, the Métis National Council and the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami because at that time, those organizations were also looking at our Constitution and saying, “Here is the definition; therefore, we have a monopoly on representation.”

Not every Indigenous person in Canada relates to these organizations. Having said that, there are many who do. To have one Indigenous organization — again, 20 years ago I had to fight my way into council or federation meetings. I had to storm in there at one point because we were being excluded. Why are we being excluded?

I say “we” as Indigenous peoples collectively. We have five organizations — not three, not four, not two and not one — five. Is that so hard to comprehend? There are five organizations that the government also helped create.

Senator Brazeau, would you take a question?

Yes.

I had the privilege in my past life of working with the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, mostly around urban issues that were very important to Aboriginal people who live in urban environments. I have to say we had a very productive relationship dealing with some of the real challenges that urban Aboriginal people face in this country, such as housing, social issues and what have you.

I do appreciate the point that you are making here today in your remarks. Maybe you could elaborate for those who are not aware of the significant work that goes on in this country in regard to their advocacy, especially in the context of the urban challenges that Aboriginal people face in this country.

Thank you very much for the question. Absolutely, in terms of when we deal with urban and off-reserve Indigenous issues, we have the National Association of Friendship Centres, which provides direct services for the benefit of Indigenous people living off reserve. But the “political” organization has been and is currently the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples.

Like I said earlier, I am going to talk more in depth about this at a future time very soon.

There was a Supreme Court of Canada decision in 2016 called the Daniels case, which was named after a former leader of the Congress, Harry Daniels. Harry Daniels took the Government of Canada to the Supreme Court, basically saying that the Government of Canada had jurisdiction for all Aboriginal peoples in Canada because the practice of the federal government has been — regardless of political stripe or colour — that once a native person moves outside the reserve, they become a provincial responsibility. That is the position of the federal government.

I have never met any premier who has accepted this position in all my years of experience. What happens? Well, people fall in between the cracks.

However, the Supreme Court decision came to confirm that because the Government of Canada created so many different labels for Indigenous peoples — treaty, non-treaty, status, non-status, on-reserve, off-reserve, Inuit, Métis — the Supreme Court concluded in 2016 that the federal government has jurisdiction and is responsible for all Aboriginal peoples, Indigenous peoples. Their practice has been, for the most part, Indigenous people living on-reserve. That is why, even 20 years ago — I don’t know what the figures are today, but up until 10 years ago, for every $8 spent by the federal government on-reserve, they spent $1 off-reserve, yet the majority of the First Nation and Indigenous population in Canada reside off-reserve.

Here is a perfect example, in my view, of how the government of the day is trying to offload to provinces, and they are trying to do away with their responsibility. But we have a 2016 Supreme Court decision that confirms they are responsible. I don’t know if that is perhaps the reason why the Congress was omitted from being on the board of directors or perhaps it is because the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples — because of this very issue of exclusion — supported the Conservative Party of Canada in the 2006 election. Perhaps it is payback for the Congress having been politically involved at that time because they were being excluded by the Paul Martin government.

People will have their different opinions and viewpoints on Indigenous organizations, but like I say, this is an Indigenous organization that has been there since 1971. You know what? It is the organization that also brought about the Powley decision in terms of Métis harvesting rights.

There are a lot of good things to say about our organization, but it seems as if the government has been purposefully wanting to limit its transactions with this organization probably because of the Supreme Court decision. Time will tell.

Thank you very much for your presentation, senator. Would you agree that we are now mature enough in this chamber for the committee to get together to study important issues, like the Supreme Court decision? Not many people know that there was a time when only five organizations were recognized. Through the diversity of the First Peoples, the First Nations, I want to be represented by my own community. However, I don’t want to overshadow anyone. Our diversity is distinct, and certain things belong to each of us. The decisions we make here will have an impact on the important organizations that work with First Nations, Inuit and Métis.

I absolutely agree. Of course, honourable senators now know that there are five organizations. What matters is making sure that the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Mr. Miller, appears before the committee and clearly indicates why the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, one of the five national organizations recognized and funded by the federal government, was excluded. That’s all.