| Historical Information |
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| This post is about a previous Session of Parliament. Any legislation here that did not receive Royal Assent has been terminated. |
C-77 – The Commissioner for Modern Treaty Implementation Act – creates the position of Commissioner for Modern Treaty Implementation (and their office) for monitoring the implementation of modern treaties with Indigenous groups.
So first up, a “Modern Treaty” is any treaty that came into force after 1974. The goal of this Act is to create an independent body to keep an eye on government institutions that are involved in these treaties and hold the government accountable for honouring them. This is all to continue working towards reconciliation with Indigenous communities/governments.
The Commissioner
The Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations will consult with Indigenous modern treaty partners on who should be appointed Commissioner for Modern Treaty Implementation. Once a choice has been made consultations will be held with the Leader of the Government in the Senate, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, the leader of every other recognized party or group in the Senate, and the leader of every party in the House. With their approval the candidate will be appointed.
The Commissioner’s term will be seven years with good behaviour, and can be appointed a second time. If something happens and the Commissioner’s position is left empty the Governor in Council can appoint any qualified person to fill in for up to six months.
The only other noteworthy part here on the Commissioner’s position is that they explicitly are not at risk of being in conflict of interest if they are a citizen, member, participant, or beneficiary of a modern treaty. A member of an Indigenous community benefiting from one of these treaties can hold this position without a problem.
Mandate, Powers, Duties, and Functions
The Commissioner’s mandate is to assess government activities around modern treaties to make sure they’re consistent with:
- Strengthening relationships between the federal government and Indigenous modern treaty partners
- Fulfilling the government’s obligations and objectives of these treaties
- Upholding the honour of the Crown when it comes to quickly and properly implementing these treaties
The Commissioner will have the ability to perform any reviews or performance audits they find necessary to ensure the government’s actions fit under their mandate. This includes any issues that are brought to their attention by the Minister, any other minister, or an Indigenous treaty partner. Note that the Commissioner is not responsible for audits called for by a treaty. If a treaty specifically calls for audits and reports the Commissioner is not a replacement for the government’s reporting, though they can still choose to do their own audit to make sure everything lines up with what the government reports.
The rest of this part is pretty standard stuff, covering what happens with reports once they’re done and the standards around how reviews and audits are done. Only real note here is that the Commissioner will be expected to speak to relevant Indigenous treaty partners to establish what needs to be covered by each review and the procedures of carrying it out before the review is actually done.
Misc
This Act also covers the rest of the standard stuff you’d expect when establishing a new office or Commissioner. Legal protections for the Commissioner’s work, rules around hiring people to assist, access to information, reporting, etc.
There’s also a specific listing of who counts as an Indigenous Modern Treaty Partner, and C-77 includes the ability for the government to add and remove groups from this list as needed. Here’s the default list:
- Carcross/Tagish First Nation
- Champagne and Aishihik First Nations
- Délı̨nę Got’ı̨nę Government
- First Nation of Na-cho Nyäk Dun
- Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) / Cree Nation Government
- Gwich’in Tribal Council
- Huu-ay-aht First Nations
- Inuvialuit Regional Corporation
- Ka:‘yu:‘k’t‘h’/Che:k’tles7et’h’ First Nations
- Kluane First Nation
- Kwanlin Dün First Nation
- Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation
- Makivik Corporation
- Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach
- Nisga’a Nation
- Nunatsiavut Government
- Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated
- Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated
- Selkirk First Nation
- Ta’an Kwäch’än Council
- Teslin Tlingit Council
- Tla’amin Nation
- Tłı̨chǫ Government
- Toquaht Nation
- Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in
- Tsawwassen First Nation
- Uchucklesaht Tribe
- Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation
- Whitecap Dakota First Nation
- Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ Government – Ucluelet First Nation
Progress of C-77
C-77 is currently outside of the Order of Precedence.
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There isn’t anything inherently “odd” about the treaty partners’ names. They’re not English names.
Yeah, sorry, what I meant was that one of them has numbers in it so I don’t know what the proper English-equivalent character is supposed to be (or even if those numbers are correct), and that means I’m also not sure if the other ones are showing correctly. That wasn’t intended as a comment on the names themselves, just how they’re showing in the document.