The AFN’s heads asks the Senate to slow down the adoption of bill C-5

(Ottawa) The National Assembly of First Nations (APN) head of the Senators to slow down the Ottawa race for the adoption this week of Bill C-5 on “national interest” projects.

Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, said on Wednesday that she hoped that the Senate “made the right decision this week” and grants more time to study the bill and propose amendments. An appeal that remained largely unanswered when it presented it to the deputies.

Bill C-5 was presented at first reading in the High House on Wednesday. It has already been adopted in the accelerated procedure in the House of Commons, in addition to having been the subject of an exceptional prior examination by the Senate.

A programming motion adopted by the upper chamber fixes a strict schedule for the journey of the bill. The final vote must take place before the end of Friday.

This bill, with a strong political connotation, has angered indigenous and environmental groups, which criticize the government for its precipitation to give itself new extensive powers in order to accelerate the obtaining of project permits.

Prime Minister Mark Carney argued that Canada is faced with the spectrum of an economic crisis caused by the trade war with the United States. According to him, the country has an urgent need to approve new projects which are deemed of national interest.

The debate in the Senate on the bill was suspended for about half an hour by the president Raymonde won after the Quebec senator Patrick Brazeau collapsed on the ground, when he had risen to speak.

Ambulancers entered the Senate room while many senators were temporarily leaving the premises. M^me Won thanked the civil servants and colleagues for their rapid intervention after the resumption of the session.

The Canadian press contacted Mr. Brazeau’s office concerning the state of health of the Quebec senator.

The bill received broad support for the House of Commons, where the conservatives voted with the Liberals to adopt it third reading at 306 votes against 31 last week. A liberal deputy voted against.

The project is progressing too quickly, according to a senator

Senator Paul Prosper said on Tuesday evening during an interview, that the bill progressed too quickly in Parliament and that he should better take into account the concerns raised by the indigenous groups which fear that the approval of the projects will affect their rights.

He undertook to try to amend the bill, but was not ready to specify how.

“Certain general provisions authorize the government to suspend existing laws and legislative texts, which constitutes an extraordinary power in this regard. It may therefore be necessary to establish certain parameters on this subject, in order to ensure that certain considerations relating to the environment and which are an integral part of the taking into account of indigenous questions are respected. »»

M^me Woodhouse Nepinak stressed that the concept of “prior consent, given freely and knowingly”-a condition of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Aboriginal peoples, approved by Canada-is not mentioned in the bill itself, despite the commitment of Mr. Carney and his ministers to consult the Aboriginal peoples.

She also said she was concerned about the Aboriginal Advisory Committee that the Government wishes to integrate into the project approval process. She added that the government cannot use this organization to claim to have consulted the First Nations, because this consultation would not take into account the various positions of the country’s leaders.

“An advisory committee appointed by the government will not be liable before the First Nations and will have no real power to guarantee their participation in the project,” she said.

With information from Dylan Robertson