I just want to ask, first of all, if the clerk could send us a bit of a calendar. I know that's a side note, but I heard a lot of things that we're going to do. It would be great to have a calendar.
In response to this, I know that our MP, Blake Desjarlais, has very clearly asked for the resignation of this minister. I will say that I find it very sad and very frustrating. I am a white woman. When I was four, I was adopted by an indigenous family. I am very clearly white, but I belong to a family that is indigenous. I have to walk that line very carefully, and I do it very carefully, even when it hurts my family, because they feel that I belong to them.
When somebody is careless—and I'm not going to attribute ill intent—and I'm not going to say that he was a bad person who is outright lying. I don't know the story of his family. However, when you do these things, you must do it very carefully to respect a people who have been marginalized since the very beginning of contact. To be careless about it is very upsetting to me because it doesn't acknowledge the historical wrongs that have been done and the long-term implications of those actions. When somebody isn't very clear on who they belong to and where they come from, and they make comments, it is harmful.
I agree with this motion. I don't necessarily agree with some of the drama that I'm seeing around it, but it makes me very frustrated to see a human being tell those stories of history like they belong to him without clarifying that they belong to him. Who gets to share a story is very important, and how you do it is very important.
We heard today testimony from the minister about trying to get it right, and it's never going to be right as long as it's held within a colonial system. We need to make sure that the level of accountability is incredibly high and that we don't mistake a colonial history and people losing connection to their traditions and their families because of that colonial history.... Those are complex stories, but when they are told, they had better be told correctly.
I'm very concerned and I don't understand why we have a minister who not only isn't being removed but doesn't gracefully and with dignity withdraw himself. Maybe there was a misunderstanding, but I have to say, when you're going to speak, you had better speak honestly and you had better make sure that what you're saying is correct.
It is wrong, so I will be supporting this motion and I certainly hope that we can get this work done. I really don't know why he hasn't stepped down.