United Nations Declaration Act — Action Plan Advisory Committee (APAC)
Meeting of June 26, 2025

Attendees

APAC Members

• Tim Argetsinger (in person)
• Hélène Boivin (virtual)
• Adam Fiddler (virtual)
• Lydia Hwitsim (virtual)
• Brandon Macleod (virtual)
• Brennan Manoakeesick (in person)
• Naiomi Metallic (virtual)
• Nibi Mshkiki (Skylar Louttit) (in person)

Justice Canada

• Hon. Sean Fraser, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada (virtual)
• Samantha Maislin Dickson, Associate Deputy Minister
• Laurie Sargent, Assistant Deputy Minister, Indigenous Rights & Relations Portfolio
• Loretta Landmesser, Director General, Indigenous Rights & Relations Portfolio
• Robert Tay-Burroughs, Senior Policy Advisor, Indigenous Rights & Relations Portfolio
• Colleen McElroy, Notetaker, Indigenous Rights & Relations Portfolio

Regrets

• Cassidy Caron
• Victoria Fred

Record of discussion

Welcome

Loretta Landmesser offered words of welcome and introduced Elder Deer.

Elder Deer introduced himself and offered the Thanksgiving Address as a means of offering thanks to all of creation to set the tone for the meetings.

Introductions

Committee members and Justice attendees introduced themselves.

Presentation from federal officials

Samantha Maislin Dickson, Associate Deputy Minister offered opening remarks.

Laurie Sargent and Loretta Landmesser provided a brief overview of the UNDA implementation measures to date from the ‘APAC Level Setting Deck (June 2025)’ to help set the context for discussions to follow by APAC members.

Meeting with Minister Fraser

The Honourable Sean Fraser joined the meeting and welcomed Committee members to their inaugural meeting.

The Minister expressed appreciation for the willingness of members to step forward to serve on the Committee and looks forward to receiving its advice.

Committee members then took the opportunity to introduce themselves to the Minister.

Vision for the Committee

Discussion took place amongst Committee members on the following items:

• Process for selection of APAC members
• Scope of shared priority measures to be discussed by
• Structure of the APAC, its mandate and purpose in relation to how it was described in action plan
• When the Committee may wish to go “in camera” for its discussions
• How the Committee interprets its role of providing advice to the Minister

Terms of reference discussions

APAC members collaborated on language for inclusion in the terms of reference.

At the end of the discussions, one Committee member agreed to prepare a first draft of terms of reference based on conversations and circulate the draft for review.