Dissolution of Parliament
On September 7, 2008, the 39th Parliament was dissolved. Dissolution terminates a Parliament, ending all business in the Senate and the House of Commons, and is followed by a general election. This means that the House ceases to exist as an assembly at the time of dissolution.
All incomplete business is terminated, including the following government bills and private members’ bills that related to First Nations people.
Government Bills
C-47
An Act respecting family homes situated on First Nation reserves and matrimonial interests or rights in or to structures and lands situated on those reserves
Bill C-47 received first reading on March 4, 2008. It would have provided for the adoption of First Nation laws and established provisional rules and procedures that would have applied to the use and occupation of family homes on First Nation reserves and the division of the value of any interests or rights held by spouses or common-law partners in or to structures and lands on those reserves.
Debate occurred in May 2008 and second reading occurred on May 15, 2008. The bill was then referred to the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, but it does not appear any meetings took place yet, and no Committee Report had yet been prepared.
C-63
An Act to amend the Indian Oil and Gas Act
Bill C-63 received first reading on June 17, 2008. No debate or second reading appears to have followed. The Bill proposed “to clarify and expand the existing regulation-making powers and to add new ones, particularly with respect to licences, permits and leases for the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas on reserve lands and the determination and payment of oil and gas royaltiesâ€.
Private Members Bills
Pat Martin is a New Democratic member from the riding of Winnipeg Centre. Bill C-334 received First Reading June 19, 2006. It proposed to “provide for the preparation and presentation to Parliament of a compensation plan to give First Nations veterans equitable treatment and recognition†including:
(a) offering a land grant equivalent to that given to other veterans;
(b) compensation for the delay in providing equal treatment;
(c) the foundation of a scholarship in honour of First Nations veterans; and
(d) a formal apology from the Government of Canada to First Nations people.
C-334 also provided for a war memorial on or near Parliament Hill.
C-496
An Act to promote the teaching of aboriginal history and culture in Canada’s schools (Mr. St. Denis)
Brent St. Denis is a Liberal member from the Ontario riding of Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing. Bill C-496 received first reading on December 13, 2007. It proposed to require “the Government of Canada to take all available measures to work with the provinces, the First Nations, the Inuit, the Metis Nation and any other interested persons to support and promote the use of an appropriate curriculum to teach aboriginal history and culture in Canada’s primary and secondary schoolsâ€.
Tina Keeper is a Liberal member from Churchill, Manitoba, and she is also a member of the Norway House Cree Nation. Bill C-563 received first reading on June 13, 2008. It proposed to implement Jordan’s principle “to provide that, if the Government of Canada has an obligation to pay for health care services that have been provided to a First Nations child whose ordinary residence is on a reserve, the first department of that government that is requested to pay for those expenses shall do so in a timely mannerâ€.
Jordan’s Principle is named for Jordan Anderson, who was born in 1999 on a northern Manitoba reserve with a complex genetic disorder that required specialized care. He died at age four after spending his entire life in an institutional setting, far from his family’s community, as the provincial and federal governments argued over who would foot the bill for his care.
Although C-563 did not continue further than first reading, Jordan’s Principle was the basis of a recent agreement between Manitoba and the federal government, which was announced September 5, 2008. Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl claimed it was the first federal-provincial agreement to use Jordan’s Principle.
