PM Mark Carney will be meeting with local leadership in N.W.T. today, topics of discussion will include Bill C-5, food security and wildfires. This morning the PM is visiting his hometown of Fort Smith in his first official visit as the prime minister of Canada before heading to the town of Inuvik.
Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy: An Act to enact the Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada Act and the Building Canada Act, received Royal Assent on June 26.
The bill has received some criticism from groups who say they are concerned about how it might affect the process of Indigenous consultation and environmental assessment in relation to potential development projects.
According to a message on the government of Canada’s Bill C-5 webpage the bill will continue to uphold Canada’s commitment to respecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples recognized and affirmed by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 and the rights set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
“Indigenous Peoples will be consulted throughout the process of choosing projects of national interest as we work together towards the success of future projects. No projects will be added to the schedule until consultation has taken place. For projects that are added to the Schedule of projects, the regulatory review process will continue to include further consultations with potentially impacted Indigenous Peoples.”
“Currently, the review process for projects can take many years to complete. Determining ahead of time that a project is in the national interest provides certainty, helping to attract investment. The intent of this Act is to ensure these nation-building projects complete the federal review within two years. We will do this by focusing these reviews on “how” to get the project built, instead of “whether” it should be built,” reads a message on the federal government’s website.
Yesterday, PM Carney met with provincial and territorial premiers including Premier R.J. Simpson in Huntsville, Ont.
They discussed trade negotiations with the United States. PM Carney emphasized recent federal measures to restrict and reduce steel imports into Canada, protect Canadian steel workers, catalyze domestic steel production, and prioritize the procurement of Canadian steel in government projects.
The ministers discussed continuing work to kickstart and complete major projects across the country to help strengthen Canada’s economic resilience. The PM announced that the Major Federal Projects Office and the Indigenous Advisory Council will be open by Labour Day. These offices will serve as the point of contact for governments, proponents, and communities to submit proposals.
The PM is scheduled to continue meeting with key stakeholders over the coming weeks including leadership from First Nations, Inuit, and Métis to as a measure to ensure big projects are built in full partnership with them, said the PM’s office.
The ministers also engaged in discussions about the wildfire situation across Canada, and the PM stressed the government’s eagerness to activate additional resources.
Earlier this month, Minister Rechie Valdez visited the city of Yellowknife to lead the Status of Women’s 43rd annual forum together with Minister Lucy Kuptana.
Minister Valdez spoke of the ways that goals of economic empowerment can be connected to ending gender-based violence, supporting Indigenous communities, and empowering women and gender diverse people in the economy.
She said that these goals can potential to be strengthened by infrastructure development in the North but emphasized only through consultation with Indigenous leadership and communities.
“Women’s economic empowerment that is going to be done through helping support women entrepreneurs and there is some very positive stats around Indigenous, entrepreneurs Indigenous, entrepreneurs especially women are exploding in terms of the growth you’re seeing Indigenous women, take on the whether that’s beading or whether that’s like helping support local communities on their ground, supporting creating food businesses, it’s really inspiring to see that and our government is here to help support them,” said Minister Valdez.
“We’re seeing such a significant portion of women, especially in the Northwest Territories, who are doing really amazing things,” she continued.
Minister Valdez spoke about the importance national infrastructure projects with Indigenous consultation are critical to the work that will benefit communities across the country.
“While we’re deciding on which National projects to proceed with, we will ensure that we will do so in consultation with Indigenous leadership and that’s vitally important to us, we will be doing that in advance this summer. And then second to that, again, every decision we’re going to make is ensuring that we’re also focused on meeting our climate goals,” assured Minister Valdez.
Last month, Minister Caroline Wawzonek told True North FM that, the GNWT continues to work with Indigenous governments and Indigenous organizations both as the project Developer, and also as a Responsible Government, to fulfill consultation obligations.
“In addition to relying on the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board’s (MVEIRB) environmental assessment process the GNWT has established a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for collaboration on the advancement of the MVH project with the Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated (SSI) and continues to engage with the Pehdzeh K’I First Nation and Liidli Kue first Nation,” said a media representative for Minister Wawzonek.
True North FM reached out to the PM’s office and to leadership in Fort Smith and Inuvik and will have more on this story soon.
