Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  What I can speak to is the UN declaration action plan, which has over 180 measures. Within that, there are a number of potential legislative measures. The act itself, the UN declaration, which you mentioned earlier, as well as the first priority in the UN declaration action plan, requires the government to create a process to ensure that laws are consistent with the UN declaration.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Could you clarify your question? Do you mean in terms of the consultation and co-operation process in developing it?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  How will it influence future legislation? It is very difficult to speculate. As I mentioned before, the court was very careful to stick to the nature of this legislation and the affirmations made within it. It affirmed very positively that this kind of legislation is within federal legislative jurisdiction.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I can speak to it generally. Then my colleagues from Indigenous Services can speak about the program. The UN declaration has been described as a “framework for reconciliation” in Canada. The court references that in its decision. As I mentioned earlier, it speaks very highly of the legislation that Parliament passed.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for your question. I'm going to answer in English. The court found that the law was within federal legislative jurisdiction. In terms of extrapolating going forward, it's an opinion of the court; it's not a decision, so technically it's not binding, but it is treated as a precedent.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for the question. Unfortunately, I'm not able to speak to this today, but if you'd like, we can follow up with a written response to that question.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for your question. I'm going to answer in English to make sure the information I give you is accurate. The court did not speak specifically to finance and funding of the program. I think that is what your question was. They don't speak specifically to that.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for the question. It is an interesting statement by the court. They really talk about that in terms of “legislative reconciliation”, and they talk about that in the broader role of Parliament and parliamentarians. They make reference to the ability of Parliament to have a conversation with society and the courts and how, in passing laws like Bill C-92, even if, for example, they make findings around the self-government affirmation, there's still a message being sent by parliamentarians to society and the courts.