Assembly of First Nations Specific Claims Review: Expert based – People Driven

Assembly of First Nations Specific Claims Review: Expert based – People Driven

October 2013 marked the 5^th anniversary of the coming into force of the Specific Claims Tribunal Act. The Act, and a Political Agreement entered into between the AFN and Canada in 2007, requires Canada to carry out a five year legislative review. In honouring the terms of the Act and the Political Agreement, the AFN is appointing an independent Expert Panel to hold hearings and receive submissions for the development of recommendations to improve the Specific Claims process. This Expert Panel process will be carried out in parallel to Canada’s five year review process, which includes the appointment of Mr. Benoit Pelletier as the Special Representative to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, Bernard Valcourt.

First Nations and their representatives have the following options to engage the AFN Expert Panel process:

                    1. Hearings: The Expert Panel will hold two days of hearings. These hearings will take place for 1-day each in Toronto and Vancouver. Both sessions will be open to the public and will be simultaneously webcast. The hearings will provide First Nations and their representatives with the opportunity to tell their stories, describe their experiences, and provide insight and feedback to the Expert Panel regarding the Specific Claims process. Hearings are being scheduled as follows:

                              I.            Tuesday, March 10, 2015, in Toronto
                            II.            Thursday, March 26, 2015, in Vancouver

Requests to appear before the Expert Panel should be directed to Johanna Jimenez-Pardo at jjpardo@afn.ca.

                    2. Written contributions: Can be made to the Expert Panel, either in addition to an oral presentation or instead of one. Written materials should be sent to via email to specificclaimsreview@afn.ca  or mailed to the following address by March 27, 2015:

Specific Claims Review, c/o Assembly of First Nations
55 Metcalfe St., Suite 1600, Ottawa, ON  K1P 6L5 

The Expert Panel will write a report reflecting the feedback received and make recommendations to improve the Specific Claims process.

Further details will be made available within the next few weeks. Any inquiries can be directed to Johanna Jimenez at jjpardo@afn.ca or 613-241-6789 ext. 292.