Saskatchewan First Nations and Métis Relations Critic Betty Nippi-Albright has introduced a bill she says will “improve duty to consult processes to ensure Indigenous communities, not the provincial government, determine how consultation occurs and with whom it would occur”.
She called the bill “long overdue, historic, first-of-its-kind” that will end a process “paying lip service to truth and reconciliation”.
“We’ve heard from nations that this government’s definition of consultation is often sending them registered letters, emails and nothing more. This bill aims to change that,” Nippi-Albright said Wednesday.
Legal obligations to consult First Nation and Métis communities about actions that may affect treaty rights and land are outlined in the First Nation and Métis Consultation Policy Framework.
They apply to a wide variety of decisions and actions, including the lease, grant or sale of unoccupied Crown land, which have the potential to impact:
- Treaty and Aboriginal rights, such as the right to hunt, fish and trap for food on unoccupied Crown lands and other lands to which First Nations and Métis have a right of access for these purposes; and
- Traditional uses of lands and resources, such as the gathering of plants for food and medicinal purposes and the carrying out of ceremonial and spiritual observances and practices on unoccupied Crown lands and other lands to which First Nations and Métis have a right of access for these purposes.
The level of consultation required relates to how significant the government determines that potential impact to be.
Duty can range from an industry stakeholder providing written notice to a community to offering to meet with a community to “discuss the project, develop a consultation plan and determine capacity needs”.
Government Relations Minister Don McMorris, meanwhile, promised to review and potentially alter the policy in the coming year, but said he doesn’t think legislation is the best way to go about doing so.
“There is a lot of policy that shouldn’t be in legislation and I would say this is one of them so it can easily be changed if it isn’t meeting the mark. Once you put it into legislation it could be years before that legislation changes,” he said.
He said, though, that he has been hearing concerns from First Nations and industry stakeholders alike.
“I want to reassure that each and every first nation will be contacted, as well as industry. That engagement will certainly be taking place through the 2022 mainly summer/fall.”
He said that the province will “hopefully come out in a better spot that serves both organizations as well as government together,” telling reporters that he’s heard of a situation where consultation consisted of the sending of a single fax.
“Some of the other issues were consultations around Crown land and how far-reaching their traditional territory is, and whether they were notified on parcels of land, and this was in an agriculture piece — ag didn’t think that was relative, but they feel it is,” McMorris said.
“So there’s that, I guess, communication gap. And we certainly heard it today and we’ll be working on that.”
Nippi-Albright argues the policy framework isn’t strong enough.
Her bill, which received its first reading Monday, specifies that duty to consult legislation “take into account First Nation and Métis values and worldviews,” among other things.
“This process that is in place does not work. Indigenous people have never been asked. This is history. Things have been done to them and never with them from the start.”
She worried that treaty rights are at risk, particularly if Crown land continues to be sold under current consultation rules.
“What good are our treaty and inherent rights to hunt, fish and gather if there’s no Crown land left to do it on?”