From the onset I knew there had to be a broad public debate over this issue. There was a book released in 2009 that brought it to the forefront. I knew that this was going to be a substantive change from the status quo. All of us in this room recognize that the status quo hasn't been good for first nations. Even Ms. Palmater would agree with that.
When I look at implementation of our rights under section 35, that's what this does. It allows our first nation governments to make a choice for themselves, an informed decision.
To me, the freest expression of our collective interest is individual rights. Without the free expression of our individual rights within that collective, we're not going to survive as a people. Indeed, that was how we always operated. In traditional times if we didn't like the system, we went somewhere else and started our own band. We can't do that now, because the Indian Act says, “You're from this place.”
When I think about our traditional land base, it isn't just the Indian reserve. So this has to be part of an overall strategy to resolve the issues we have facing indigenous peoples across the country.
Some of it is real resource-revenue sharing. But without being able to utilize what we have, we can never do that adequately. We'll always just say, “Well, let's take the smallest share that we can out of that because that's all we can get.” I want to change that. I want to be able to change it in a very fundamental way that empowers our governments, so that our governments will always be here for future generations.
I'm not here to have an extinction. There have been examples in Canadian history where communities have become extinct. Indeed, because of the smallpox epidemics of 1862 and 1863 in British Columbia, a number of my communities became extinct, and they joined to form the remaining 17 Shuswap communities that I'm a member of now. The Nicola people of Merritt have become extinct.
Indeed, one of the proponent communities, Whispering Pines, has said they want to participate in this because they know that if they go extinct because of the wording of the Indian Act, which says 6(1), 6(2), and by 6(3) you're not a member....
They're saying they want to be able to have their own land base, so that future generations will be able to enjoy what little land they have now, but also to use that as a springboard to move ahead.
Ms. Palmater and others are entitled to their positions, and the communities that make an informed decision to move ahead on this basis have the same rights.
