If the suggestion is that an entire reserve could be sold off, I think that would be highly unlikely. When you consider the size of Canada, Canada hasn't all been developed and neither have any of the provinces.
So what we need in terms of first nation governments is the ability to empower the individual. There is no greater power within the fiscal framework to empower the individual than to enable him to own his own home, to build equity, and to have his choice of buying and selling, because without equity.... In one particular case, it is going to take 73 years for this particular first nation to be able to catch up on its housing arrears. It is completely unrealistic for this country to even consider building every home that will be needed in first nation communities.
On the second point, I have been having lots of discussions right across the country with a lot of different interested first nations groups, particularly in British Columbia obviously, but also with a lot of communities that are involved in what is called treaty land entitlement. When you have a million acres that will be transferred from the provincial government to first nation governments and immediately turned into Indian reserves, losing 90% of its value, there are some questions raised as to why that would be done.
As far as support goes, one of the things I wanted to make sure of--and this goes back to the question of Jean-Yves--is to make sure the work is methodically done and thought out, and with a legal foundation. That is the stage I'm at right now, and I will obviously be going out and intensively consulting with first nation groups, including the Assembly of First Nations.