First of all, what we're proposing is specific legislation that would optional, so that communities could choose to opt into it. What it would do is to transfer the ownership. Right now, the federal government.... Try to imagine what it would be like if Canada tried to build an economy with no individual private property rights; it just couldn't be done. What we're proposing is the transfer under the Indian Act of ownership from Her Majesty—I don't think Elizabeth would object—to first nations, so that we in turn would be able to have the underlying jurisdiction and title to those lands. Also, individuals would be able to have and enjoy, like every other Canadian, individual property rights so as to be able to build and own their own home.
To give you an idea, I served as an adviser to the Auditor General. In the 2004 report, she said the backlog in 2004 was between 20,000 and 35,000 units, growing at 2,200 units annually. If Indian Affairs had built 2,300 units annually from 2004 onward, reducing the backlog by 100 units a year, at that rate it would take 200 to 350 years to reduce the backlog. So again, you're throwing water on a bonfire.
It just isn't enough to wish these problems away. What you have to do is to create the fundamentals of building an economy. The fundamental economy builder in this country is individual private property rights. With those we could can enter into partnerships with our friends at Public Works to build the infrastructure, and we could work with our friends in the restaurant industry to build restaurants within our communities. In other words, we want to be able to empower the individual, but also to create government institutions so that we can be accountable and be part of the fiscal and governmental makeup of the federation of this land.