Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on May 8th, 2007

[Deputy Grand Chief RoseAnne Archibald]

Yes, across Canada there are probably core values that we can agree on. Are we the same? No, we're not.

[Rod Bruinooge, Conservative, Winnipeg South, MB]

Going back to previous words that you used, you talked about the pre-colonial moment as having a value system that was perhaps better. Maybe you didn't use the word “better”. I'll let you describe that pre-colonial moment.

[Deputy Grand Chief RoseAnne Archibald]

I'm sorry, I don't quite understand.

[Rod Bruinooge, Conservative, Winnipeg South, MB]

How did you describe it? I know you talked about the pre-colonial moment in previous testimony. Could you describe it again?

[Deputy Grand Chief RoseAnne Archibald]

Yes. I see it as valuable. It's something that can be brought into the present so as to be beneficial to all people, not only for us but for all Canadians.

[Rod Bruinooge, Conservative, Winnipeg South, MB]

Are you saying it's a better system, the pre-colonial system?

[Deputy Grand Chief RoseAnne Archibald]

I didn't say that, no.

[Rod Bruinooge, Conservative, Winnipeg South, MB]

It's not a better system. Is it a worse system?

[Deputy Grand Chief RoseAnne Archibald]

I'm not saying that either. You're trying to be quantitative.

[Rod Bruinooge, Conservative, Winnipeg South, MB]

I'm only getting you to define it.

[Deputy Grand Chief RoseAnne Archibald]

No, you can't be quantitative about values.

[Rod Bruinooge, Conservative, Winnipeg South, MB]

Is it the same, better, or worse?

[Deputy Grand Chief RoseAnne Archibald]

I can't be quantitative about values. All I can tell you is they can be beneficial to us.

We're not saying let's go back to the past and live there. We're saying let's bring forward those things that can help us to live peacefully in this country, because we want the same things that everybody wants.

[Rod Bruinooge, Conservative, Winnipeg South, MB]

You want to bring forward the good values from that period.

[Deputy Grand Chief RoseAnne Archibald]

Yes, we can bring them forward.

[Rod Bruinooge, Conservative, Winnipeg South, MB]

But we should only bring forward the good values.

[Deputy Grand Chief RoseAnne Archibald]

Yes, obviously.

[Rod Bruinooge, Conservative, Winnipeg South, MB]

Okay. We agree on that.

Perhaps there are also bad values that were associated with the pre-colonial period?

[Deputy Grand Chief RoseAnne Archibald]

That I can't speak to.

[Rod Bruinooge, Conservative, Winnipeg South, MB]

Do you not know?

[Deputy Grand Chief RoseAnne Archibald]

I can't speak to bad values of the past.

[Rod Bruinooge, Conservative, Winnipeg South, MB]

Do you know if they existed?

[Deputy Grand Chief RoseAnne Archibald]

It's hard for me to say because I wasn't there.

[Rod Bruinooge, Conservative, Winnipeg South, MB]

However, you do know the good values, right?

[Deputy Grand Chief RoseAnne Archibald]

Yes. Again, you're trying to be quantitative.