Ron Irwin

[Aboriginal Affairs, November 21st, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, for this hon. member I will answer that question.

The idea of the Reform Party on Indians and equality is to keep them poor, keep them uneducated and keep them on the reserves. I have heard the idea of the Reform Party for three years. It thinks Indians live in paradise. The member who is grinning stood in this House and said that he knows that aboriginal men burn their wives with cigarettes. That is ignorance. I do not think anybody in this country accepts that.

When the leader of the Reform says that Canadians are not hearing the message of the Reform, they are hearing it and they do not like it. That is why Reform is sinking.

[Aboriginal Affairs, November 21st, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, I was sitting here today with the hope that this member would ask the question.

I just finished watching this member on television. We have to deal with poverty, with schools, with roads, with social assistance, with economic development, and this member's idea of equality is to send $10,000 to each Indian in this country. I just heard him on television. That is his policy which I have waited three years to hear. If we do that, then who is going to deal with the poverty? Who is going to build the hospitals? If that is his idea of equality, then the Reform Party should go out there and talk to a few Indians.

[Native Peoples, November 21st, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the question is, will there be duplication or overlap? Who can say? I would prefer that there be less duplication and less overlap.

If we truly mean that we want aboriginal people to be self-sufficient and self-governing, then we have to trust them and let them do it. As the Prime Minister said when he had this job, we made a lot of mistakes on their behalf through the Indian agents. It is time for them to make a few mistakes on their own.

[Native Peoples, November 21st, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, that is a matter of evolution. I certainly feel that the AFN powers should be enhanced by First Nations people. We are certainly trying to deal in the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia with larger groupings. At some point that may evolve. How or where, it is too soon to say but there will be a separate chamber for aboriginal self-government in this country.

[Native Peoples, November 21st, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the absence of a response from the Minister of Finance is certainly acceptable to me.

[Native Peoples, November 21st, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the commissioners and the commission make it quite clear that on many aspects of the report it will need co-operation of the provinces and territories and the federal government.

There are only 89 recommendations where they say the federal government has the direct right to implementation. In the overwhelming majority, I think over 200, they are saying it will require consultation with the provinces, sometimes cities and sometimes territories.

[Native Peoples, November 21st, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, the royal commission tabled a few hours ago a voluminous series of reports involving 440 recommendations, covering everything from housing to royal proclamations. It involves just about every ministry in the federal government and probably every minister of the provincial and territorial governments.

The royal proclamation is something that the premiers of the provinces, the Prime Minister and the First Nations will have to discuss. They will need time to read the report and come up with whatever recommendations they see fit.

[Royal Commission On Aboriginal Peoples, November 21st, 1996]

Madam Speaker, under the provisions of Standing Order 32(2), my colleague the hon. Minister of Natural Resources and the federal interlocutor for Metis and non-status Indians and I have the honour to table in both official languages copies of the final report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

[Land Claims Agreements, October 21st, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, that is a good question.

As the hon. member is aware and is still celebrating, the Yukon is now represented by a new government and three of the members are aboriginal. They are very concerned that there be consultation with First Nations. I have talked to the new leader of the Yukon and I am prepared to sit down with him and develop a more proactive scheme than we had under the former government.

[The Minister Of Indian Affairs, October 10th, 1996]

Mr. Speaker, if that is the only question I am going to get from the Bloc in two months, I am in pretty good shape.

The red book happened to be our policy. It was a promise to the electorate, which eventually became cabinet policy. We were telling the public: "This is our policy. This is what we promised you. This is what we delivered". Short and simple.