Chief Fontaine, thank you for being here, as well as your team.
In your remarks, I noticed an element that seems to me to be important. You often say that we must show good will, that this is all about trust and that we must tell First Nations people that their rights are just as important as the rights of all the other citizens of Canada and of Quebec.
But one point suggests to us that you do not trust the government as much as you seem to be saying. You said that at the time the consultations on aboriginal claims began, the Fisheries Act, over 100 years old, was renewed and that you seem not to have been consulted, at least sufficiently so, on the amendments to the Fisheries Act.
We know that this is extremely important for First Nations from the west coast, the east coast, the centre or the north. I sat on the Committee on Fisheries and Oceans for five years. I saw everything that happened on the west coast in connection with the Fisheries Act, which is extremely difficult to apply.
That was your example. Does that mean that you trust the government only in this present process? You said that this process poses no problem but that the federal government does not automatically think to consult First Nations on matters that concern them, including the Fisheries Act.
Did I understand your message on the subject correctly?