Thank you, minister, for appearing before the Senate today.

When a government bill arrives in the Senate for us to debate and review that impacts First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, there are often questions regarding whether the government has fulfilled its duty to consult — similar to a previous speaker.

The Senate has a sacred responsibility to speak for the various groups that are under-represented, including Indigenous peoples, as articulated by the Supreme Court of Canada in its reference on Senate reform.

Minister, how do we as parliamentarians know that when reviewing government bills the government has upheld its duty to consult?

Thank you, senator, and thank you for being the sponsor of Bill S-16. It is highly appreciated by the Haida Nation as well as everyone else.

With every bill that comes before you, the notion of consultation is a question that is annexed to most things that go through cabinet and whether Indigenous people are consulted or not.

It is impossible to consult every party to every bill that will impact Indigenous people. It is virtually impossible. We have 634 bands, 29 modern treaties and 4 regional Inuit governments, a number of Métis organizations and representatives — I can keep adding on — and specific women’s organizations and so on.

Ultimately, it comes down to how deep have they gone, whether decisions have been distinctions based or if there is a regional component to it. For example, if a bill is about the Atlantic, have the major Atlantic organizations and representatives who are rights holders been consulted? Again, it is difficult. There is no formula for this.

What I do want to say is that when it is specifically about Indigenous people, whether it’s Indigenous languages —

On a similar train of thought, during the Forty-second Parliament, Parliament adopted legislation to amend the Department of Justice Act creating a new duty for the Minister of Justice to ensure a Charter Statement is tabled in Parliament for every government bill. This transparency measure is intended to inform Parliament of specific Charter implications.

Minister, would the government support introducing a section 35 statement for each bill similar in purpose to the Charter Statement that would assure senators that the government has fulfilled its duty to consult?

I have thought about this, and I think this is something the Minister of Justice needs to weigh in on. I will have a conversation with you, as well as the Minister of Justice, to see how we can move on it.

I suspect this will be part of an UNDRIP-implementation measure that we will need to work on together.