Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Perhaps an overarching synopsis as to what we are trying to do with this bill is that we are trying to change the system. There is a broken system in place right now. We admit that the federal government is the judge and jury on the negotiation of specific claims. This bill is taking that out of the hands of the government and making an independent tribunal that will deliver the results that everyone is hoping for, something that has, for many years, been called for by many first nations leaders.
I think that must be remembered as we go through the process of debating this bill. It's important to hear from witnesses, and I think there has been a lot of good testimony today, which I know will be discussed by our committee members.
I still have to go back to the point that was made earlier by Ms. Keeper in relation to consultation. She used a bunch of words, of course, that I think have a lot of loaded meaning and are taken advantage of by a lot of politicians.
So I ask the question, if the AFN can't say, “We completed consultation”, then who can? I think that's a really good question to ask the panel. If the Assembly of First Nations can't say they completed what they believed was consultation, then where does this word “consultation” go from there?