Thanks, Mr. Chair. I don't want to rehash what's in the dissenting opinion, but we did receive written submissions from the following Indigenous governments, specifically asking for an opportunity to be involved in the co-drafting of regulations under this bill and others in some cases: Dehcho First Nations, Dene Nation, Gwich'in Land Use Planning Board, Gwich'in Renewable Resources Board, K'atlodeeche First Nation, North Slave Metis Alliance, Northwest Territory Metis Nation, Sahtu Renewable Resources Board, Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated, Tlicho Government, Wek'eezhii Renewable Resources Board.
They all suggested, and in some cases very specific, wording that they wanted to see included in this section of the bill to ensure that they were involved in the co-drafting process of regulations moving forward, so, when we talked about this at committee, there were no other ideas about how to do this. The only idea that came forward was what is offered here, which is not even full consultation. This is at least an effort to provide notice. Even if there were to be developed a consultation process in the future, which I hope there would be, this would not take away from that in any way. This sets the floor. I think that it's a reasonable compromise, and I look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say about this.
We have yet to hear a clear and unambiguous commitment from the the Minister moving forward on how the Indigenous governments are going to be involved in the development of the regulations. If I had that clear commitment from the Minister, we wouldn't need to do this, I don't think. I think then our government would be living up to and honouring the devolution agreement, Indigenous rights, reconciliation, and so on, but we don't have that clear and unambiguous commitment from the Minister.
Now, we did hear evidence from the Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated that the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment has actually developed draft language for some kind of an agreement moving forward for how Indigenous governments would be involved in the development of regulations under the post-devolution legislation that his department has proposed, the Mineral Resources Act and the amendments to the two petroleum bills, as well. So I find it curious that we have one department, from the evidence that we have before us from Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated, saying, "We are prepared to enter into some kind of are agreement and arrangement moving forward where Indigenous governments are going to be involved in making regulations," but we have a different Minister, Environment and Natural Resources, who has said so far that there will be a pre-consultation assessment and that, in this lessons learned process, there will be discussion of how Indigenous governments may be involved in regulation-making move forward. That is not the same sort of commitment we are hearing that the ITI Minister has made, so there seems to be a bit of a disconnect there.
I would hope that we can start to at least set the floor for how Indigenous governments, co-management bodies are going to be engaged and involved moving forward. This does not preclude or take away from any agreement that they may reach on full consultation, but this sets a minimum floor of a duty to provide notice. Thanks, Mr. Chair.