Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have a few additional comments to elaborate on one of the points that was made in the submission. Overall I think the problem with the bill is that it represents a band-aid solution. I think everybody's saying that. It won't solve the problems that have been created over a long period of time with regard to the Indian Act.
A number of studies, including RCAP and the 1985 Penner committee report, have consistently said not to tinker with the Indian Act--that it's really too broken and you can't fix it. The main issue is the need to recognize the right of first nations to determine their own citizenship.
One of the problems you face as a committee at this stage is your inability to deal with the bigger issue, the bigger problem of self-government. You have, at least according to my understanding of the rules, some limits to the scope of your investigation of the situation. You are really limited to the terms of the bill. The recommendation we made is that you really need a more broadly based initiative, one similar to that of the Penner committee that studied and reported on this same issue in 1985.
Actually, as my younger colleague has noted, I was around back then, and I remember exactly the same kind of dynamics. The charter had just come into force. Section 15 was about to come into force, because its implementation was delayed until 1985. You had a case in the UN at the time, the Lovelace case, and there was a lot of pressure to try to come up with some solutions.
We realize now that the solutions that were developed were inadequate. We see the inadequacies today. Nevertheless, at the time I thought the initiative of Parliament to study the issues of membership, citizenship, and self-government was quite an interesting opportunity. It was an opportunity for parliamentarians to become versed and to understand a little more broadly and a little better the broader issues, which is really what we've indicated.
I think our main recommendation is that you take the time to open up your mandate, if that's possible, and look at the issue of self-government, self-determination, and citizenship.