I think that's a really great point from an indigenous person, which is that it should never be the minister pronouncing from this seat, or really any seat, with such few facts or information, on who is indigenous. In fact, indigeneity, as you point out, is complex.
There is an individual from a riding near me who has been raised in an adoptive family in a first nation. He is non-indigenous by birth, but he was adopted as an infant and has been fully adopted by the community. If you met him, you would not think he was indigenous. He studies indigenous issues. He speaks the language. He has been raised as an indigenous person since he was two or three months old. Even his own narrative is one of complexity. How does he find himself in this place and how does he navigate as someone who is deeply steeped in his family, his culture and his tradition, yet is fully non-indigenous by birth—by DNA?
I am really glad that you raised this point. All of this is the legacy of a colonial government that chose, in those early days, to divide people and dispossess people of land, culture, language and identity. Now we're all here grappling with how to get back to a place where indigenous people define for themselves who the members of their communities are. It's also that we make amends as a country by ensuring that there is more equity in the systems that serve us all.
Thank you.