Southern Tribal Council and Large/ Unaffiliated
First Nation meeting
Mnjikaning First Nation, October 25, 2012
Irving Leblanc, P.Eng
Acting Director – Housing & Infrastructure
Bill S-8 Safe Drinking Water for First
Nations Act
• Introduced in first reading in the House June
19, 2012
• Expected to go into second reading and
referred to committee this fall
• Another opportunity for witnesses to provide
comments
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Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act
• As it’s predecessor Bill S-11, Bill S-8 is
unacceptable in its current form
• First Nations were not consulted in its
development.
• Bill S-8 will create new regulations and
standards but does not provide First
Nations with any resources to meet those
new standards.
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Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act
Objection to section 5(3) regarding Aboriginal Rights
• “For greater certainty, nothing in this Act or the regulations is
to be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from any
existing Aboriginal or treaty rights of the Aboriginal peoples
of Canada under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 ,
except to the extent necessary to ensure the safety of
drinking water on First Nation lands.” not a non-derogation
clause
• Three regions initially indicated their support by Assembly of
Treaty Chiefs recently rescinded their support.
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FUNDING CUTS
• AFN analysis shared with the regions, template send out to
PTOs for information
• All national and regional organizations in receipt of core funding
in 2012-13 will have funding reduced
• Core funding will be reduced 10%Reductions in project funding
starting 2013-14
• Tribal councils will fall under a Tiered approach
• As of April 1, 2014 a revised funding formula will contribute
towards core funding or aggregate program delivery
• Tribal councils will no longer be required to deliver the 5 specific
advisory services
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Fire Inspections/Engineering
Inspections
• HRSDC Labour Program will discontinue
providing this service March 31, 2014.
• AANDC will take on responsibility
• AANDC will work with AFN to develop options
• Considering RFP for Standing Offer in the
interim
• Other regions not as active as OFNTSC
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School Inspections
• Several regions have specific school
inspection programs
• Schools are funded 100%
• AANDC is looking into having this
program available for other regions
• To work with AFN
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EC Wastewater Systems Effluent
Regulations
•
•
•
•
Same information from EC
Information on how to interpret the regs
AFN had done an impact analysis 2009
And recommended Guidance Manual
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Housing
•
•
•
•
Reductions in CMHC units nationally to 548
AFN wants to meet with CMHC
Insurance issues on west coast
Lessees not able to get mortgages renewed
due to inability to get insurance
• FNMHF evaluation
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Housing cont’d
• SoP- Habitat for Humanity
• Whitehorse build on settlement land
• Looking for project on Reserve land
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AFN/AAFN/Holmes Group Pilot
Project
•
•
•
•
•
Progressing
Designs developed
Community based committee established
Regular meetings with partners, OFNTSC partner
AAFN working with Architect to develop FN
Sustainable Housing Standards
• Funded by FNMHF
• Look to utilize FNIHC in some fashion
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Other activities
•
•
•
•
•
Resolution workplans
National First Nations Water Strategy
National Housing Strategy
Evaluation of FNWWAP, working group
Housing Roles and Responsibilities
(from Housing Policy Evaluations)
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Other Activities cont’d
• FCM Steering Committee – CIPP
handbook
• Pikangikum Working Group – Social
Action Group Toronto
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Emergency Management
• FY 2010/2012 AFN H&I added EM to its
responsibilities with funding from AANDC
EIMD
• Areas looked at include Floods, Wildland
Urban Interface Fires, Civil Unrest and
Protests, and Missing Persons
• advocate for more attention or resolution of
the resulting issues from the emergency
events.
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Senior Officials Responsible for
Emergency Management (SOREM)
• provided input in the Guidelines for Developing
Agreements for Emergency Management Services of
On-Reserve First Nations Communities in Canada
and the development of a Statement of Principles
Concerning Emergency Management for Aboriginal
Communities.
• AFN involvement will ensure the inclusion First
Nations concerns are included in the development of
these documents which directly affect them.
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Emergency Event Notifications
•Notify the respective AFN regions, through the Regional
Chiefs, with timely notifications on Emergency Issues which
affect First Nations on both a regional and national scope.
•To further facilitate this process, AFN EIM will engage
regional technicians to refine the Emergency Issues
Management process within First Nations. These Technicians
are part of the Housing/Infrastructure and Health Secretariat
of AFN.
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First Nations Fire Strategy Working Group
•Through Community Safety and Correctional Services’
Critical Infrastructure Branch, AFN EIM has been working
with the Fire Strategy Working Group to examine the current
status of fire protection for First Nations, to review and make
recommendations for improvement.
• Fire assessments being completed in some regions
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First Nation Emergency Management
Coordination
• AFN EIM will continue to develop its
connections and networking to
coordinate EIM efforts between the
representative regions and
organizations.
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Development/Organization of First Nation Emergency
Management Network (EMnet) Forum
In an effort to formulize Emergency Management in the
respective First Nations regions, AFN-EIM envisions a
cooperative group of Emergency Management Coordinators
(EMC), Health, Water and Environmental Technicians
brought together to share information such as Best
Practices, Lessons Learned, Innovative and Successful
strategies from their regions in resolving emergency events
and issues.
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EMNet
• The AFN-EMnet body will propose strategies for a
process, in relation to the four pillars of Emergency
Management:
• Not a consultative group
• information sharing
• possible future capacity development and training for First
Nations for a Community Emergency Response Coordinator,
• And research strategies for more ground level community
involvement through the participating members.
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EMNET
• AFN-EIM, with funding support from Public
Safety Canada (PSC), hosted a Emergency
Management Network Forum Oct 16-18,
2012
• 50 participants
• Want to become an annual event
• Developing ToR for the EMNet
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Canadian Red Cross (CRC) MOU
• AFN EIM is also working with the AFN Health and
Social Secretariat to review and revise the current
Memorandum of Understanding between the AFN
and the CRC into a Statement of Partnership; with a
view towards ultimately operationalizing the
agreements.
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Miigwetch
THANK YOU
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