Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I've been on this committee off and on since 1994. It is quite different to come here presenting rather than being presented to. Thank you for your introduction. I do have two officials with me. They're both people I'm quite familiar with, and they do a go

Aboriginal Healing Foundation  Mr. Speaker, under the provisions of Standing Order 32(2), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, copies of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation's 2010 Annual Report.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply   of all Canadians. I think of our first prime minister, John A. Macdonald, God bless his soul, who imprisoned indigenous peoples, stole our children, and stole our languages. There was Mackenzie King, who imprisoned Japanese Canadians. This House, though, has made many great

Aboriginal Communities  Mr. Speaker, there have been great new investments since this government came into power in 2006. I might add that the throne speech this year made a strong commitment that we would endorse the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We will be doing that very soon.

Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act  moved for leave to introduce Bill S-4, An Act respecting family homes situated on First Nation reserves and matrimonial interests or rights in or to structures and lands situated on those reserves. (Motion agreed to and bill read the first time)

First Nations Elections Act   nations with the electoral system currently provided for in the Indian Act. The problems allowed by the Indian Act's lack of clarity could be exceptionally damaging. Let me give the words used by Mr. John Paul, executive director of the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations

Indian Affairs  Mr. Speaker, my statement concerns questions raised in this House yesterday. I am the spokesperson for my party on aboriginal affairs and I am deeply and personally offended by comments made inside and outside the House about my colleagues in caucus by other hon. members

Bill C-3--Gender Equity in Indian Registration Act  Madam Speaker, I listened with interest to my colleague from the Bloc on the aboriginal affairs committee. Once again I am rather interested in the difference between the behaviour, statements and performance of members on that committee during committee proceedings and when we

Bill C-3--Gender Equity in Indian Registration Act  Mr. Speaker, the member for Medicine Hat sat on the committee for Indian Affairs and Northern Development and we listened to witnesses for a considerable length of time on Bill C-3. What we heard were contradictory positions and a lack of consensus. People were reluctant

Indian Affairs  Mr. Speaker, the Nisga'a deal transfers ownership of a section of the public highway from Terrace to New Aiyansh and Greenville to the Nisga'a. The minister knows that road blockades in B.C. have revolved around legal ownership of right of way at Adams Lake and Apex Mountain. Th

Indian Affairs  Mr. Speaker, people in British Columbia who were paid to know what was happening in those negotiations did not recognize one sentence or one paragraph in that agreement. In response to my previous questions to the minister he has continued to perpetuate myths that there will be

Indian Affairs  Mr. Speaker, newspaper reports indicate that the minister is to enter into an agreement for $10 million in compensation for 17 Inuit families that were voluntarily relocated to the high Arctic in the 1950s. Although the move was not without its hardships, the new community is rep

Indian Affairs  Mr. Speaker, one of the government's major selling points on the Nisga'a deal was that it would end special tax exempt status for the Nisga'a. That would be good news if it were true, but it is not. The Nisga'a deal just substitutes one kind of tax exempt status for another. It

Indian Affairs  Mr. Speaker, this is not a balanced deal. There is much controversy among the media. We are not attacking any group. We are trying to place responsibility where it belongs. The minister can dance around the issue all he wants but his primary function is to spend taxpayers' money

First Nations Elections Act   ensure that Bill S-6 does not give the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs new powers that go against the opt-in nature of this legislation. For first nations that currently hold elections under the Indian Act, this opt-in legislation contains many improvements to the election process