Thank you again, Madam Chair.

My name is Grant Wedge. I am the assistant deputy minister of the negotiations and reconciliation division of the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs in Ontario.

I'm here to talk today with you about the role of the ministry in relation to the mercury disability benefits that are paid to members of both the Grassy Narrows First Nation that Chief Turtle represents and the Wabaseemoong Independent First Nations. That's of course in connection with the mercury contamination in the English and Wabigoon rivers.

I am joined today by my colleague Frank Miklas from the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.

My focus is on providing the committee with information about the actions that Ontario has taken and continues to take regarding mercury disability benefits.

The mercury disability fund and the Mercury Disability Board were established by Ontario's 1986 English and Wabigoon River Systems Mercury Contamination Settlement Agreement Act. Let's just call it the “mercury act” for short. It governs the administration of benefit payments to the members of Grassy Narrows and Wabaseemoong. Under the act, Ontario is responsible for maintaining the mercury disability fund at a level sufficient to cover all payments to qualifying benefit recipients. If I can just clarify, that is then a 100% contribution by the Government of Ontario to that fund.

Ontario contributed about $35 million to the payment of benefits between 1986 and January 2019. In addition, both Ontario and Canada contribute on a fifty-fifty basis towards the administrative and operating costs of the Mercury Disability Board, the MDB. The government representative, Keith Conn, was referring to that in his testimony.

The board consists of seven members, including a chairperson selected by the parties. Just to note, the most recent chair was Evelyn Baxter, a first nation's member who was appointed just last month to the Ontario provincial Court of Justice. We're now looking for a new chair. It also consists of one member from each of the two first nations, two qualified physicians and two other members. These two other members are normally representatives of Ontario and Canada, but that's not a requirement under the act.

The board members are appointed by a four-member search committee that is responsible for appointing and replacing members of the board. The search committee includes one representative from each of Ontario, Canada, Grassy Narrows and Wabaseemoong. In fact, it is usually the chiefs from the two communities who are the direct participants on that search committee.

Benefits are paid from the mercury disability fund to the members of the Grassy Narrows First Nation and Wabaseemoong who demonstrate symptoms that are reasonably consistent with mercury poisoning. These may be symptoms set out in a table of known conditions—for example, tremors, incoordination, visual impairment, or other symptoms consistent with mercury poisoning that may significantly impair the quality of life or limit the activities of an applicant. That is done through a physician review.

As of April 30, 2019, there are 263 people from the two first nations who are receiving benefits, 143 from Chief Turtle's community of Grassy Narrows and 120 from Wabaseemoong.

Following a review of MDB compensation, last fall the Ontario government committed to indexing the benefits annually to changes in inflation, as measured by the consumer price index. As a result, people saw their benefit payments almost double, beginning last November. For example, someone who was then receiving the $800 maximum payment per month prior to indexation now receives $1,720 per month.

At the time of the announcement, our minister, Minister Greg Rickford, said that Ontario hoped that these increases would help change people's lives for the better. I have provided, in English only, the news release that was issued at that time. Minister Rickford said it was unacceptable that the payments had been frozen for the previous 30 years.

To be clear, the amount is exempt from provincial taxation and does not count as income for the purpose of reducing any other benefit for which a recipient may qualify, including, for instance, the Ontario disability support program. In addition to indexing benefits on a go-forward basis, the indexation was also provided retroactively to those who were receiving benefits as of March 31, 2018. So if someone had been receiving the benefits for the last 10 years, they then received a lump sum payment to cover the 10 years of inflation.

In total, the retroactive payment to individual recipients in 2018 was $11,700,000. The number of community members who were assessed for benefits in 2018-19 included 164 adults,120 from Grassy Narrows and 44 from Wabaseemoong; and 12 children, 11 from Grassy Narrows and one from Wabaseemoong.

Thus far in 2019, this current year, there have been 75 adult assessments, 60 from Grassy Narrows and 15 from Wabaseemoong, and a further three pediatric assessments, all from Grassy Narrows. The program has experienced a 14.3% increase in the number of recipients over the past year. Those are new recipients.

If I may, I'd like to speak about some other recent developments.

Ontario is now fast-tracking MDB recipients who apply for benefits and other payments from the Ontario disability support program in addition to, or on top of, their MDB payments. As of 2018, provincial regulations governing ODSP have changed so that anyone who has previously received an award from the Mercury Disability Board will now automatically qualify for provincial disability support provided they qualify financially.

Before this change, anyone who received mercury disability awards would then have to apply separately for ODSP. I recognize it may feel like a small change, but it has significantly reduced the application burden for people who now receive both ODSP and MDB benefits. Since 2018 there have been 20 new ODSP clients from Grassy Narrows, 13 of whom have come through this new prescribed process, and four at Wabaseemoong.

In addition, the federal government is providing funding for an expert panel that is assisting the board to look into opportunities to modernize the MDB's clinical assessment process.

Madam Chair, members of the committee, in closing I would just say that I hope I have given you a sense of what it is that my ministry, Indigenous Affairs, is responsible for with regard to the MDB issues. We have taken steps to increase payments to people who have gone as many as 30 years without an increase and to reduce the burden of applications.

I'll be pleased to take questions following my colleague's remarks.

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