Good afternoon members of Edmonton City Council and City Administration. I am Miranda Jimmy, a proud member of Thunderchild First Nation on the Saskatchewan side of Treaty No. 6 whose traditional territory includes the place currently known as the North Saskatchewan River Valley. I am here today as a resident of this city and as someone who expects my leaders to uphold their Treaty responsibilities.
In my opinion, the report before you today has some glaring misinformation that requires some reconsideration and perhaps some further direction to Administration to ensure appropriate alignment with other directives. I would like to present some crucial thoughts for you to consider.
When it comes to your responsibility to Indigenous Rights Holders, as governors and as Treaty Partners, there are three different types of obligations to consider – legal, ethical, and moral.
In Canada, the legal obligations related to Indigenous engagement are protected under Section 35 of the Constitution Act (1982) and fall under the Federal Duty to Consult and Accommodate as well as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (2021). The Duty to Consult and Accommodate typically refers to the constitutional obligations of the Crown to inform and consult with Indigenous Rights Holders when decisions may impact their rights and accommodate their needs. It also serves to remedy “a procedural gap” in Treaties and cover rights that go beyond the right to hunt, fish and trap to include a right to maintain a traditional and cultural way of life.
Legal obligations, such as the UNDRIP Act and the Duty to Consult and Accommodate are mandated through legislation and legislative directives by the Crown and often come with legal or financial consequences to ensure compliance. Legal obligations also tend to be the lowest bar for compliance and require Rights Holders to challenge in court if they are not upheld. As noted in Administration’s report, municipalities are not considered to be the Crown and therefore have no legal obligation to Indigenous Rights Holders.
Beyond legal obligations are ethical ones, the legislation, guidelines, policies, and procedures that govern a profession or in your case, an office. As elected officials, you have taken an oath or affirmation to “diligently, faithfully, and to the best of your ability, fulfill the duties” for which you have been elected. And before recent changes, you also agreed to adhere to a code of conduct. These agreements are your ethical obligations and the standards for which elected officials are held accountable to.
For me, fulfilling your ethical duties should include applying the knowledge you gain through your term from knowledge holders, community leaders, and subject matter experts that support better decision making on behalf of current and future residents. Ethical obligations challenge you to work in ways that ensure higher standards for due diligence are applied to your decision making powers. They are the expectations in which you can be held accountable to and can come with professional consequences.
In the case of Indigenous engagement, your ethical obligations are grounded in your ability as a governor to uphold the existing agreements made, like the MOUs that have been signed between the City and the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations, the Métis Nation of Alberta, and Enoch Cree Nation. Void of any legal requirements for municipalities to adhere to the Duty to Consult and Accommodate, you must ask yourselves “are you diligently, faithfully, and to the best of your ability, fulfilling the principles and values in these signed agreements?”
Lastly, I want you to consider your moral obligations. These go beyond the requirements you must adhere to under the law or those you are professionally accountable to but are the personal standards you hold yourself accountable to. Individually, these vary and there are no external standards – only you know if you are meeting your moral obligations as a Treaty person. A beneficiary of the Treaty and as a future ancestor whose decisions will impact this Land and its peoples for generations to come, what are your moral obligations to the Treaty and the Treaty relationship?
Your direction to Administration should not be based solely on your legal obligations but also consider your ethical responsibilities to uphold the agreements in place and be a living example of your moral obligations to yourselves and others. In closing, I want you to illustrate for you what this might look like in the context of Indigenous Engagement within the North Saskatchewan River Area Redevelopment Plan Area.
Consultation is only required by other orders of government.
Engagement comes from an interest to inform and hear from impacted Rights Holders without a requirement to accommodate their feedback.
Relationships, which is what I understand the Indigenous MOUs to be, are based in reciprocity.
Free, prior, informed consent is the foundation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and commitment #1 in the City of Edmonton’s Indigenous Framework.
The City of Edmonton does not require input from Indigenous Rights Holders in how you will meet your legal, ethical, and moral obligations. You must decide for yourselves what they are and how you intend to uphold them as Treaty Partners, despite any budgetary or timeline constraints. I welcome any follow up questions and can provide specific examples of where inconsistency is creating confusion and distrust.
All my relations.
The preceding speech was shared at a City of Edmonton City Urban Planning Committee Meeting on July 2, 2026 regarding Public Report 7.2: Indigenous Engagement within the North Saskatchewan River Area Redevelopment Plan Area. A video recording of the proceedings can be found online here.