I'd like to make a brief comment.
I am very proud of my aboriginal heritage. My grandmother was Mohawk and she would roll over in her grave if she knew what was going on here.
Most aboriginals—people I know well, having lived among them for years—have a longstanding oral tradition. For aboriginals, a person's word is their bond and is considered to be sacred. It carries more weight than anything else. In a society where nothing is written down, no contracts are drawn up and no documents are drafted, people learn to take others at their word. If the government negotiates with aboriginals by presenting something good, while adding a myriad of details that ultimately prevent the agreement reached by the two parties from being implemented, aboriginals will no longer trust the interlocutor and further discussions will be impossible. It reaches the point where the value of the interlocutor outweighs the topic being discussed, because, in the eyes of aboriginals, when you make a commitment and you give your word, it has to be genuine and you have to follow through on it.
Every time things are not presented clearly, every time the government takes with one hand what it gives with the other, it taints the relationship. It will take years for Canada to rebuild an acceptable relationship with aboriginals. Governments at every level behave in the same way. And I can attest to that fact because I have lived all over the country.