I liked what you said, Grand Chief; it was very interesting. The committee is used to hearing from people, including native chiefs, who are more often in a confrontational mode rather than a conciliatory one. I realize that you are first and foremost in a conciliation mode. I nevertheless have a few questions.
I studied the bill thoroughly. Some witnesses told us they would rather not have a lone Superior Court judge to hear a case, but rather a group of three people, such as a judge and two assistants. I would like to know what you think about that, and in particular about two other points. The first concerns court fees. The bill says that a tribunal may impose fees, which are called costs. This is stipulated in subsection 12(3), which reads as follows:
(3) The Tribunal's rules respecting costs shall accord with the rules of the Federal Court, with any modifications that the Tribunal considers appropriate.
So if a member of your band made a claim in Saskatchewan, that person might have to pay court costs.
The bill concerns the federal government and first nations. Subsection 20(6) reads as follows:
(6) If the Tribunal finds that a province that has been granted party status caused or contributed to the acts or omissions referred to in subsection 14(1) or the loss arising from those acts or omissions, it may award compensation against the province to the extent that the province was at fault in causing or contributing to the loss.
So the court might find that a province is at fault. But what happens when a province has not been granted party status? Could this happen in Saskatchewan? Have you studied this possibility? I would like to know what you think about these three things.