Only parts of the bill are optional

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Proponents of the Bill C-20 say the new legislation will be optional for First Nations to buy into or not, but opponents have worried that it will be forced upon them and that it would in turn force taxation on their communities.

One exchange in House of Commons just before the break demonstrated that the department of Indian Affairs sees at least one aspect of the bill that will not be optional.

"Mr. Speaker, throughout the debate on this bill much has been made of the optional nature of the bill. Even in earlier incarnations this was less clear, but in this incarnation of the bill, as it went from Bill C-19 to Bill C-23, to now Bill C-20 in this Parliament, the claim is made by the government that this is truly optional and people's fears are groundless. In relation to the statistical institute, which is one of the four new fiscal institutions created by Bill C-20, I do not understand how the claim can be made that Bill C-20 is optional. In fact, the statistical institute is not optional at all. All First Nations in Canada come under this whether they wish to or not," said Pat Martin (NDP) in the House of Commons on Dec. 10. "Unless I am missing something completely, there is no optional nature to the statistical institute. Perhaps this should have been dealt with as a separate bill ... I would like the parliamentary secretary to explain to me how the statistical institute could be seen as optional."

Sue Barnes, Liberal MP from London, Ont., is the parliamentary secretary to the Indian Affairs minister.

"I referred to the optional part of this bill as in the fiscal tools. The minister stated in committee in his opening remarks that the statistical institute is not optional. It applies to all First Nations. If the member had wanted to do something different about severing the statistical institute, I am sure he could have made amendments to that effect, but he did not. In fact, he chose, and I am very glad that he did, to be part of the unanimous passing with other amendments but nothing relating to that situation," she said.

"No one has forced any First Nation to tax under the provisions of the Indian Act. No one will force any First Nation to tax or borrow under the provisions of this bill. First Nations will make that decision. The minister made that point very clearly in committee. Overall, yes this is optional for the taxation. The whole point of the statistical institute is to be able to do the planning. If that was unclear to the member, I am very glad he gave me this opportunity to clarify that."