Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Tansi. Honourable members of Parliament, I'm Sheldon Sunshine. I'm the chief of the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation in Treaty 8 territory.
Thank you for this invitation to speak about Bill C-61.
Before I begin, I'd like to acknowledge that I'm speaking on the unceded lands of the Algonquin people.
Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation has over 3,800 members. We are one of the largest first nations in Treaty 8 territory. Our ancestors entered into Treaty 8 in 1899 with the imperial Crown. At that time, and until 1905, Alberta was not a province, and our people did not conceive that we would ever have dealings with a province. Our treaty is a nation-to-nation, international, sacred covenant that provides the legal foundations of this country.
Since time immemorial, our territory has been surrounded by water. We rely on Smoky River, Iosegun River, Goose Lake and Sturgeon Lake. The Smoky originates in the Rocky Mountains near Jasper and then feeds the Peace River, a navigable river under federal legislation. We depend on these waters to harvest fish and large game, which sustain our people. Our lands are home to endangered species such as bull trout and woodland caribou.
Our territory is located in the northwestern part of what is now known as Alberta. Many parts of our territory are now industrialized and surrounded by mining in Grande Cache, forestry near Fox Creek, and conventional oil and gas projects, including abandoned, orphan wells. All of this development is near, on or in the water we rely on to continue our way of life and our livelihood and to exercise our treaty and inherent rights. We are experiencing unmitigated cumulative effects in our territory and in our waters, which is a breach of Treaty 8.
Before getting into Bill C-61, I'd like to tell you about the water in our treaty. At the time of the treaty, we were a matriarchal society, and our women were the water keepers. They were not included in treaty negotiations, so water was not discussed. We did not treaty our water. Water was non-negotiable for our ancestors, as it is for us today.
Since 1899, the time of the treaty, the government has encroached on our treaty jurisdiction over water. For example, through their interpretation of the Constitution of 1867, the Crown has said that the province has jurisdiction over water, based on words like “local works” and “property”, for example. Like our treaty, this is not explicit. Unlike our treaty, it makes no sense. For example, there is no property in water under any law.
Bill C-61 is the latest attempt to encroach on our inherent authority over water. The government is using legislation to override our treaty promises—their treaty promises. This is the fundamental problem with Bill C-61 and why we will not accept it, even with amendments.
I want to be crystal clear today that we do not need legislation to recognize and affirm our treaty. We need the space and the capacity to develop our own laws. This requires positive action by the federal government, given the effects of decades of neglect.
However, Bill C-61 does not just infringe on our jurisdiction. It also creates a two-tier water system where the first nations will continue to be denied the human right to water, and it downloads federal liability to the nations.
Some of the most serious issues we have identified in Bill C-61 are the following.
First, the legislation does not recognize the human right to water recognized in the legislation. There is no guarantee for safe drinking water. Instead, it creates a different set of rules for first nation lands. Calgary, through the water main break, recently learned what we go through on a daily basis. We still have boil water advisories, and we need a new water treatment plant, but the cost is estimated at around $50 million.
Second, this legislation will do nothing to affect the billions of litres that are removed from our waters through provincial water allocation licences by the province in violation of Treaty 8.
Third, this legislation will do nothing to protect our water and our treaty rights from the ongoing threats of contamination. For example, last year, the CST coal mine near Grand Cache released more than one million litres of toxic water directly into Smoky River. We were never notified. This is 200 kilometres upstream from us, much like what is being faced by those communities downstream from the Imperial Oil Kearl spill and seepage. This is one example. Bill C-61 will do nothing to stop this poisoning of our water and the fish we depend on to exercise our treaty and inherent rights.
Fourth, the legislation imposes a federal framework by which we can create our own laws, but we don't need legislation to do so. And if we don't pass our own laws, the legislation says that we will default to the federal regulations. The federal regulations are at the whim of the minister in place. This is not an opt-in. It is not self-government.
Fifth, the legislation will download federal responsibility onto us, with no guarantee of funding backstop. The federal government has fiduciary responsibilities to us. We will need them to live up to these duties. We don't need their attempts to give us self-government without any guaranteed capacity funding. We will be held liable for the issues that are within the federal government's fiduciary responsibility to us right now.
In conclusion, Mr. Chair, the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation and Treaty 8 territory are firmly against this legislation, as we see a grave infringement on our jurisdiction and rights. We ask that you reject Bill C-61 in its entirety.
I thank you for your time.
