Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Mr. Kinew, for your testimony today.
I look at the Indian Act and it goes back 137 years of maintaining the status quo. We've seen approximately 16 attempts to try and change the Indian Act, but it has always been met with failure.
I look at the Indian Act, and then I look at apartheid in South Africa which took the Indian Act and used it as a template. Currently in South Africa, they don't have apartheid, but here we have 137 years of the Indian Act, which is still in place, which governs the day-to-day lives of first nations.
In your series, 8th Fire, people came forward to be interviewed and provided their life experiences. Everyone says to get rid of the Indian Act. We hear it from the AFN leaders. We hear it from leaders all across Canada. They say to get rid of the Indian Act, but no one ever seems to want to do it.
Being a first nations man myself living under the Indian Act, I don't have the same rights as my non-aboriginal colleagues here have. I feel like I'm being treated as a second-class citizen being dictated to in my day-to-day life. Then I hear the word “consultation”. I'd like to get some clarification from you, Wab. On every piece coming forward from the opposition, either a motion that affects first nations or a private member's bill, do you feel that they should be consulting across Canada with every first nations group?