House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 1993, with 53% of the vote.
Indian Affairs December 1st, 1995
Mr. Speaker, the First Nation vote in Quebec does not have to be bought. They are standing up for Canada. When the Crees vote 96.3 per cent no against the separatists and the Inuit vote 95 per cent no against the separatists and the Montagnais vote 99 per cent no against the separatists, that should send a clearer message to the separatists than to the Liberal government.
Indian Affairs December 1st, 1995
Mr. Speaker, I just did.
Indian Affairs December 1st, 1995
Mr. Speaker, as I explained yesterday, I have 3,000 civil servants in my department alone. A lot of them do a lot of writing. I did not ask for that note, I did not want that note, and I do not agree with that note.
Constitutional Amendments Act November 30th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, I would ask the hon. member to read my speeches and look at my record. I would not be here in the Prime Minister's cabinet if I in any way felt the way this member says I do.
Why are they worried about the separatists in Quebec? It is because you have a premier talking about "the ethnics". You have a vice-premier, and you know what he did. You have a member in the Quebec legislature who calls the aboriginal people gypsies. You have Max Gros-Louis, chief of the Hurons, who is saying the separatists are racist.
The separatists are living a lie. They say that Canada is divisible but not Quebec. That is a lie. There is such a thing as the 1898 line. There is such a thing as territorial integrity. There is such a thing as Cree territory, Mohawk territory, Abenakis territory, Micmac territory. Every time the separatists put that lie out, this minister is going to repeat what I said in Quebec at every house, at the UN and at Geneva.
Constitutional Amendments Act November 30th, 1995
The Bloc does not want to even acknowledge that there are places like Dubreuilville, Chapleau, Timmins and Sudbury in Ontario where there are 700,000 francophones. What is going to happen to them? The Bloc does not care.
We have lived with these people for generations. They are our family. They are our neighbours. We share our schools with them. Bloc members do not care. I am convinced of that. They do not care about the Acadians. They do not care about the franco-Manitobans. They only care about their agenda.
Members of the Bloc talk about Cartier, Champlain and LaSalle. These are Canadian heroes and they are as important to my history as they are to any separatist. The Guy Lafleurs and the Cardinal Légers and the giant French Canadian community in industry and science and on the international stage. I remember them.
I remind the separatists that except for a few months, in 25 years, in a quarter of a century of leading this country, all of the Prime Ministers have been from Quebec. I remind the Bloc that we are the party of Laurier who cared about French Canadians in Quebec, who cared about French Canadians outside Quebec, who cared about Canada on the world stage. If Laurier were looking down today at the leader of the Bloc, he would weep.
I cannot say much more for the Reform members who thought Meech was too extensive. They opposed Charlottetown because it was too extensive. Today, I heard they cannot support this because it is a single page. I saw the way they voted on the aboriginal issues. I see how they treat the francophones here.
I was shocked when the Reform Party that wants us to sing "O Canada" in this House said that 50 per cent plus one on a faulty, fraudulent question divides and destroys this country. This generous, historical piece of property on this planet, and Reformers would destroy it with 50 per cent plus one. I used to find the
Reform interesting. I now think the Reform is dangerous if that is the philosophy its members are spreading across the country.
I do not know how I can convince the Bloc members. What they are destroying is the spirit of the French Canadians. These are the people who were at the foothills of the Rockies, who explored Hudson's Bay, who opened up the Mississippi.
I returned from Williams Lake, Alberta the day before yesterday. North of Williams Lake is the town of Quesnel, British Columbia. I just happened to be there. I remember this point from 15 years ago. Maybe it was part of the point I was going to speak on today. Who knows how the creator works. Fraser is the explorer who found the mighty Fraser. He got it named. He had a better publicist but those people, all nine of them, who paddled his canoe were French Canadians and the aboriginal people in that area showed him the way.
That is my Canada. That is my concept of who we are. It has been 15 years that I have been prepared to fight in my area of northern Ontario for the aspirations of francophone minorities until the very day I die. I am prepared to stay here and reaffirm my commitment.
When I vote personally on the resolution next week, I will not be doing it with timidity. I will not be doing it as the leader of the separatists say, because it is politically expedient. I will do it with pride because I believe it is important to my country.
There were 150,000 people who came to the Montreal rally. There were French Canadian federalists there. It is a misconception when we say that the people in Quebec are separatists. There are staunch French Canadian federalists in Quebec and they were at that rally, but we were there together. Why? To say that we love this country.
The leader of the separatist party mocks that love. He mocks it. He tries to destroy former Prime Minister Trudeau by mocking him. He tries every day by mockery to destroy our present Prime Minister. If Louis St. Laurent or Laurier were here today, the separatists would do the same thing. I see it every day. That is their agenda.
In my city of Sault Ste. Marie we had 2,000 steelworkers show up at an opening on a Friday or a Saturday. There were two days that went together. They took their hats off when we were singing the national anthem. It was amazing. I have never seen that. It was cold. The next day 1,000 people showed up in Sault Ste. Marie. They raised Canadians flags and Quebec flags. I looked down and saw young people there saying "We love you, we want you to stay". It was the first meeting for these little kids, and they looked at me and said "Do not destroy this country". That is my Canada.
The Haida people of B.C. have a creed. They say "We do not inherit this land from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children". That should be our creed.
My forefathers came from Italy and Ireland. They were very poor. From the Irish I learned that we have to pay something back. I am the fourth politician in my family. My grandfather Alfred was a councilor; my uncle Tom was a mayor; my uncle Fred was a councilor; I was a mayor. They said "You must pay something back".
From the Italian side, my grandmother, without even knowing the language, had to go from Rome by train, then by boat to Halifax all the way up to Sault Ste. Marie to meet my grandfather. She could not speak the language. She had eight kids. If she could be here and see today that her grandson is a member of Parliament she would be so proud. She taught me that this country is the best country in the world. It is.
I do not know if there is an afterlife. I hope there is. If there is, I am sure that Laurier, my grandmother, and my grandfather are up there saying "Go for it". That is what we should be doing.
Constitutional Amendments Act November 30th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to stand here today to enter this debate. As Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, I will start by repeating what the Prime Minister said yesterday vis-à-vis aboriginal people:
As it concerns the aboriginal people of Canada, my government is clearly on record as respecting their aspirations. We recognize the unique legal position of aboriginal people, including the protection of aboriginal and treaty rights in the Canadian Constitution and the inherent right of self-government.
What does that mean? It means we must listen, and I address the separatists, when Grand Chief Matthew Coon-Come of the Cree says that ideological separatists will not treat them like cattle, moving them from one territory to the other. We must listen when the Inuit vote 95 per cent no and when the Crees vote 96.3 per cent no, and when the Montagnais vote 99 per cent no. We will listen.
The Prime Minister has proposed that Quebec be a distinct society. He has proposed that we will make no constitutional change that affects Quebec without consent and he has delivered. I want to be here when the leader of the Bloc stands up and does not support this because it tells me his agenda is simple separation. It tells me that when he looks out his window to look at the French fact in Canada, the only thing he sees is his own reflection.
Maybe I am losing it. I sit here day after day and see the hon. member for Bourassa who is from Chile. He is a political refugee who has come to this country. Oddly enough, this country Canada is an Iroquois name that means the village. Quebec is a Micmac name which means where the water overflows. The hon. member for Bourassa sits here and he debates and thinks in a British institution whether he should be called by a Mohawk name or an Iroquois name, while taxpayers pay his salary. If he thinks long enough and gets re-elected he will get a pension. Only in this country Canada would we be that tolerant. What a democracy, but that is a fact.
Oddly enough, 15 years ago I gave my maiden speech in this House. I was sitting over there. The maiden speech is a member's most important speech. You come with your life experience and you want to say what is important to you. My maiden speech was about the French Canadian fact in Canada, their contribution to the national character of this country. I had come off the CRTC where I sat with Rhéal Therrien who was the vice-chairman then. He would say to me: "Ron, a country is not a piece of paper; it is a frame of mind".
It was so important to me to get my life experience on the record. As the member of Parliament for Sault Ste. Marie I spoke about the French Canadian fact in Canada. I spoke about the importance of biculturalism and multiculturalism. To that I would add the culture and the aspirations of the First Nations people of this country.
You see me every day fighting for aboriginal rights, but I fought just as hard for French Canadian rights because I come from a part of this country with 700,000 franco-Ontarians. You do not want to even seem to acknowledge that there are places-
Indian Affairs November 30th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, our policy in Quebec is clear and apparent and I think my friend does support it.
We are working with the James Bay Cree on their issues. We are working with the province of Quebec and with the Huron which has signed a treaty with the province of Quebec. We have made offers to the Attikamek-Montagnais in the north of Saint-Laurent of $400 million with the Quebec government. He says to work with the Quebec government. We are working with the Attikamek-Montagnais, the Innu. We are working with all of them.
Our policy is our red book. Everybody who works for our department is supposed to follow that red book.
Indian Affairs November 30th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in my former answer, I did not ask for that document and I did not see that document. If it is accurate as far as the Globe and Mail then it is a pretty silly document.
If the hon. member wants to know what my deputy minister, my ADMs or my regional directors general have to do, there is an even more significant document which is accurate and free. It is called our red book and we follow it.
Indian Affairs November 30th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, a couple of weeks ago the Reform Party put out its policy on aboriginal people. We waited two years for what is now its interim policy. It was received as follows: Blaine Fable: "Earth calling Preston"; Blaine Fable: "Silly and bizarre"; Erasmus: "It's like reading something from the 1920s"; and John Edward: "This is pretty much a bunch of cheap shots from the Reform Party". These are aboriginal leaders.
The Reform Party knows nothing about equality. If it knew anything about equality, all 42 members who voted against the B.C. treaty process would have been in here voting for it.
Indian Affairs November 30th, 1995
Mr. Speaker, if the member is referring to the article in the Globe and Mail and several others, I did not see that memo. I never asked for that memo and if I have to read it in the Globe and Mail I am not going to pay much attention to it.