QUESTION PERIOD — Natural Resources
Indigenous Consultation
June 11, 2024
My question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate.
Senator Gold, on the website for the Nova Scotia government’s Office of L’nu Affairs — the provincial equivalent to Crown‑Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and Indigenous Services Canada — the office states:
On August 31, 2010, after a three-year pilot period, the thirteen Mi’kmaq communities through the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs signed an historic agreement with the Governments of Canada and Nova Scotia. The Mi’kmaq-Nova Scotia-Canada Consultation Terms of Reference lays out a consultation process for the parties to follow when governments are making decisions that have the potential to adversely impact asserted Mi’kmaq Aboriginal and treaty rights.
Senator Gold, a letter from Mi’kmaq leadership — from June 4, 2024 — clearly states these terms of reference were not followed for Bill C-49. My question is: why?
Senator Prosper, thank you for your question and for bringing this matter to our attention. As you know, Minister Wilkinson will be appearing before a committee later this week. He has already circulated — to all the leaders of the chamber and to members of the committee before which he will be appearing — some comments and responses to issues that were raised in the letter to which you referred, as well as in the letter that you shared with some of us in this chamber.
The minister will be far better positioned to explain his view of the engagement and consultations that have taken place over the years with regard to this bill, and as set out in his letter to the leadership and members of the committee.
Thank you, Senator Gold. Given the importance of the meaningful inclusion of Indigenous voices in our parliamentary studies, as well as the lawful requirement of the Crown to use the established protocol for consultation and your government’s repeated statements about reconciliation, will your government agree to my June 5 request to change the leadership deal on the timing of certain bills to allow Mi’kmaw leadership to testify in September once they have had a chance to study this complex bill?
Senator Prosper, as you and I have discussed over the weekend, I have brought this matter to the attention of the leadership. We are in discussions on this matter. I really have nothing more to say at this juncture.
