[Witness spoke in Mi'kmaq]
[English]
I spoke in my mother tongue because that's who I am.
I thank the chairman for having me here, along with everybody else around the table.
I would like to speak of the the clam in particular. It's an important food source. It's the beginning of a new season and it is hard to not be able to harvest this little delicacy. Like my friend Gaston mentioned, we drive along a long stretch of coastline and we are not allowed to stop to pick clams. It's heartbreaking. We still have elders in our communities who don't have access and it's not everybody that... I don't know how to express it. I'm here before you because I was asked to appear, and I'm here because this is something that I've been affected by. Hopefully, we will band together, the people from Bonaventure, Port-Daniel and all these places where they pick clams—not just the Mi'kmaq, but the small communities that thrived on clams.