Quite frankly, Mr. Chair, there is a framework that has been worked on. First nations leadership was quite clear about it at the AFN actually and said that it was totally unacceptable and subpar.
I would challenge any sort of insinuation that first nations leadership will have difficulty with having free, prior and informed consent over matters impacting our children. That's bizarre. If you took the indigenous out of it and it was just a human being making decisions about their children, I don't think any parent in this country would fight against having self-determination to make decisions about their children. I think that first nations leadership will be shocked and disturbed that, in 2023, free, prior and informed consent over matters impacting indigenous children isn't just a set conclusion in this country and that we're still playing political games about the human rights of first nations children, indigenous kids, over self-determining the path for our children.
I think that argument is fairly weak. Certainly, I don't accept that argument. It is not a logical argument, and I'll just leave it there. I do feel that we're at a stage in this country where people really do want to move forward with reconciliation. I believe that, but if we can't start with children, given the kind of history in this country with residential schools and ongoing issues with child welfare and issues around the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal rulings and all of those things, with birth alerts and forced sterilization.... It is very disturbing to me, in fact, that we have to debate this, but I do accept that this is a democracy, and I'll leave it at that. Thank you.