Question Period Note: Approaches to Crown-Indigenous Co-development

We are committed to meaningful collaboration with Indigenous partners to co-develop common solutions to recognize and implement Indigenous rights.

While there will be challenges, we know that co-development leads to better outcomes for Indigenous peoples and is responsive to the needs of communities.

Since 2015, through Recognition of Indigenous Rights and Self-Determination discussion tables, we have co-developed proposals to inform federal negotiation mandates and meet the interests of all parties. We will continue to do so.

Co-development between the Crown and Indigenous peoples is an approach taken by Canada in recent years for negotiations, and the development of policy and legislative proposals. Indigenous peoples have long advocated for this approach. While there is no universally accepted definition of co-development, Canada has broadly understood it in the Crown-Indigenous context as referring to how the Crown and Indigenous peoples can actively engage and collaborate to inform the development of common proposals.

Canada is working with Indigenous communities at over 145 section 35-related discussion tables that are exploring new ways of working together to advance reconciliation and self-determination. This includes co-developing proposals to inform negotiation mandates. The discussion tables represent over 690 First Nations communities, 44 Inuit communities and nine Métis groups across the country, for a total of over 920,000 people. In addition, in 2019, Canada, British Columbia, and the First Nations Summit co-drafted the Recognition and Reconciliation of Rights Policy for Treaty Negotiations in British Columbia. This demonstrates Canada’s commitment to working collaboratively with Indigenous and provincial partners based on the recognition and implementation of Indigenous rights.

Canada has taken co-development approaches with other initiatives as well. For example, the Permanent Bilateral Mechanisms were established in 2016 with the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and the Métis National Council and its governing members, and enable a comprehensive, distinctions-based approach to priority-setting, stock-taking, and policy co-development. Additionally, through the Collaborative Fiscal Policy Development Process, Indigenous governments and federal officials have worked together to review and revise Canada’s fiscal policy supporting self-government. In 2019, Canada and Indigenous groups co-developed legislation pertaining to child and family services, and Indigenous languages.

If pressed on specific Crown-Indigenous co-development initatives

We are continuing to work collaboratively with Indigenous partners to advance our common priorities through a number of initiatives.

This includes :
• the Permanent Bilateral Mechanisms with the three National Indigenous Organizations,
• the Collaborative Fiscal Policy Process with Indigenous governments, and
• the Recognition of Rights Policy for Treaty Negotiation in British Columbia with the First Nations Summit and Government of British Columbia.