Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. McCabe, for coming here today.
I've had a chance to go through your book and these briefing notes, and it poses certain challenges for me as a lawyer who has worked to some extent on a variety of issues.
I might comment that the cases you cite in your briefing note, and indeed a number of others, actually are quite rich in terms of what they're practically dealing with, whether it's traditional practices and the use of resources on land and/or in water versus a rightfully growing concern we have about the need to include first nations communities in major economic development in regions or around a resource. Indeed, it's particularly relevant that a person of your stature and authority, if you will, on the judicial piece to this whole discussion could benefit.
So I'm going to try to go down the economic road consistent with some of the things that our study is looking at, but it is building a little on Ms. Crowder's important question at the end with respect to economic developments. Because the fact of the matter is that we can't always wait for the Supreme Court of Canada for these decisions.
I'm not going to talk so much about aboriginal rights on a right-to-right basis. Again, I want to focus on the economic development. I may ask you to do some practical translations of some of the great legal work that you've done in these areas.
Historically we've looked at fiduciary relationships and obligations. Of course, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples recognized that there was a balancing of rights going on here. Wewaykum, which you quote on page 3 of your brief in a slightly different context from what I'm raising here, identified that the crown is no ordinary fiduciary. Depending on the context, they have to regard the interests of several different parties. Importantly, I think, they're not restricted to section 35 rights.
That's important, because what I want to ask you is a very open question. We have land claim agreements settled. Some are in the process of being ratified. They deal with a number of issues, which include, inter alia, issues around MRP, matrimonial rights property, resource utilization, and participation in the economic benefits it has.
To that extent—let's try to flip this over—what are the challenges for the court in view of some of the emerging regulatory frameworks and some of the land claim settlements that have occurred? Some are in the process of occurring that many first nations are quite excited about getting done because they have become an integral part of an economic strategy in a particular region, or perhaps nationally.