To break down these walls, we have to take a look at the truth. We have to walk in truth. Sometimes it is difficult to do that. Sometimes it's difficult to look at oneself. Today I came here not to make friends. Your opinion of me today is your business; it's not my business. At the same time, I know that in each and every one who is here, you have loved ones who you care for, just as I do. We have the capacity for love. If we walk in truth and share some compassion, I think we can go a long way, but we cannot get there by legislating us away and legislating us into silence.
All of these measures that you have in Canada—the Indian Act, Bill C-31 and others—will not pave a way to reconciliation. In order for there to be reconciliation, we would have had to have a good relationship at some point. In my introduction, I talked about 1670. There was a period of non-interference. Our people lived freely. Your people learned from our people. They learned how to survive in the harsh environments that were here. They learned how to harvest what was available to them. They were after the pelts, and they got those pelts. The company that started that continues to exist today.