Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs INAN Ï NUMBER 116 Ï 1st SESSION Ï 42nd PARLIAMENT EVIDENCE Friday, September 7, 2018 Chair The Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk 1 Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs Friday, September 7, 2018 What's more, we are here to discuss the enormous loss of opportunities for first nations if the Trudeau government fails to see Ï (1100) this through. The Federal Court last week could not have been more [English] clear. The Liberals failed to meet their own standards for The Chair (Hon. MaryAnn Mihychuk (Kildonan—St. Paul, consultations with indigenous peoples in Canada and to deliver on Lib.)): I wish to welcome everybody to the committee. I hope you the process they themselves announced, and this is Justin Trudeau's had a wonderful summer. I understand that we are here for a very personal failure. The Prime Minister and his government failed the important issue and have come back to Ottawa specifically for this first nations plaintiffs with botched consultations. He failed the first committee hearing. nations that have signed substantial benefit agreements. He has failed Albertans. He has failed British Columbians. He has failed Before we start, I just want to recognize, as we always do, in a Canadians by continuing to cost us over $40 million a day in lost process of reconciliation and truth, that we are on the unceded revenue because we can't get our resources to tidewater. territory of the Algonquin people. I want to tell the committee that I have received four letters asking for a meeting under Standing Order 106(4) and that we have The Canadian Chamber of Commerce said that failing to build the complied with the requirement to have the meeting within five days pipeline would send a damaging message to both domestic and and given 48-hour notice. foreign investors in Canada. For over a year and a half, Canadians have waited for the Prime Minister to come up with a concrete plan I want to thank you all for coming out a bit early to discuss a very to ensure that this pipeline project is completed. Forty-three first important issue. nations in Alberta and in my home province of British Columbia I have a speakers list. First up is MP Cathy McLeod. have waited for the Prime Minister to ensure that the benefit agreements they painstakingly negotiated with Trans Mountain come Mrs. Cathy McLeod (Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, to fruition. These are agreements that would have brought more than CPC): Thank you, Madam Chair. I will have some comments and $400 million to first nations for skills training, employment, then I will be presenting a motion for consideration at the end of my business, and procurement opportunities, as well as for badly comments. needed improvements to local infrastructure. By failing to carry out We are back here and many have come back in the middle of the his government's own consultation process, he has failed to deliver end of our summer break. In all the time I've been a parliamentarian, for first nations. The Prime Minister is responsible for lost I've never felt so compelled to call an emergency meeting as I have agreements and opportunity. since this issue presented itself last week. In all my years, this is the first time I felt that having an emergency meeting was so critical that we must have it and it really could not wait. I want to thank everyone On June 13 of this year Justin Trudeau proclaimed in this House for coming here today and the colleagues who felt that it was critical of Commons that our government has “completed the deepest enough to actually write the letter to call for this emergency meeting, consultations with rights holders ever for a major project in this both the Conservatives and the NDP, to discuss the Trans Mountain country.” On April 30 the Minister of Natural Resources stated in expansion project. question period, “we undertook the most exhaustive consultation on Last week the Federal Court of Appeal found that Justin Trudeau pipelines in Canadian history." What we actually did was add failed to consult first nations people. On Tuesday, our colleagues in additional layers of consultation principally with indigenous the natural resource committee asked to see Justin Trudeau's plan to communities. Yet the judge wrote in last Thursday's ruling that: get the Trans Mountain pipeline built, but he used his majority to shut down questions. The next day Justin Trudeau hid behind empty rhetoric. A government that promised to be open and transparent has the consultation framework selected by Canada was reasonable and sufficient. If continuously turned Canadians away with nothing but uncertainty, Canada properly executed it, Canada would have discharged its duty to consult. and that is why we're here today: to give Justin Trudeau and his However, based on the totality of the evidence I conclude that Canada failed in Phase III to engage, dialogue meaningfully and grapple with the concerns expressed to it in government a chance to outline his plans to build this pipeline and good faith by the Indigenous applicants so as to explore possible accommodation of get Canadians back to work. these concerns. 2 INAN-116 September 7, 2018 Clearly there was a proper framework for consultation in place, These are stories that we have not heard too frequently, and they but the Liberals botched the execution. are stories that need to be heard. These are some of the people who have been failed by the government's inability to consult properly. As Canadians have been reading for over a week now, the court squashed the Trudeau government green light to Trans Mountain and ordered it to redo its consultation. I am here today because of the silence of one of Justin Trudeau's own MPs, the member for Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, Ï (1105) where the Matsqui First Nation has also signed a negotiated benefit agreement for Trans Mountain. The ruling specifically says: Only after that consultation is completed and any accommodation made can the Project be put before the Governor in Council for approval. I have more stories to tell, colleagues. The Trudeau Liberals had a clear, court-mandated bar to reach, and they fell far short. The failure by the Prime Minister to get the The agreement signed with the Simpcw First Nation in my riding job done has put millions in benefit agreements in jeopardy for first will provide the Simpcw people with annual payments, employment nations and non-first nations communities, and it now hangs in the training, business opportunities, emergency response training, balance. equipment, and infrastructure. Colleagues, I've come to Ottawa today not just as the The Lower Nicola Band near Merritt has bought a 51% ownership Conservative Party shadow minister for indigenous and northern stake in the pipeline service company that provides maintenance affairs, but also as the member of Parliament for Kamloops— support to Kinder Morgan. This will create up to 40 jobs in peak Thompson—Cariboo. A significant portion of the pipeline is directly season for the band members—a huge boost to a community through the riding I represent. I am here today as the voice of my struggling with high unemployment. constituents, and many in British Columbia, to tell their stories to the Government of Canada and to tell their stories to the Prime Minister. Chief Casey Bird of Paul First Nation said this: I am here to speak the words of Chief Mike LeBourdais of Whispering Pines First Nation, who said they received $300,000 Kinder Morgan's ongoing support of the training, employment and community annually because Trans Mountain runs directly through their land. It benefits that come from respectful, two-way partnerships is just what is needed to move our community forward. has run through their land for over 60 years. We have to remember that this proposal is simply an expansion of an existing line that has Ï (1110) been there for over 60 years. The funding they received was going to double, and this was not the only benefit. You can imagine that for a small first nations community an extra $300,000 is a significant Of course, there are many first nations across B.C., as well as non- number of dollars. In 2014, his community voted unanimously in first nations communities, that were also going to look at significant favour of a benefit agreement, which included a $5-million lump benefits. Again, in the riding I represent, that's $700,000 for the sum to be held in trust—a unanimous first nations agreement. community of Kamloops and $300,000 for bike and pedestrian trails and trades and technology and environmental education in Barriere, Allow me a few more quotes from him: B.C. For the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, that's $845,000 for What we looked for personally on my side and what I wanted in the agreement community infrastructure, parks improvement, and education was the economic benefits, jobs. I wanted to put my youth and my middle class, funding. For Clearwater, B.C., it's $300,000 for community projects, my working class guys on the pipe, and get them out of Alberta and North Dakota education, and training opportunities. where they are working. We negotiated a resolution we hoped would provide benefits to our children, grandchildren, elders and community. We provided multiple opportunities for Yesterday the president of the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce community input during the negotiations. Our community voted unanimously in said that if Justin Trudeau fails to complete the Trans Mountain favour of the agreement at a community meeting.