Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to our guests for being here.
Grand Chief, you mentioned several times the timing of this bill and the fact of getting it going forward.
I was at your gathering on December 4 to 6, where you made an implored plea, particularly around a child, and it seemed to have worked because as soon as we got back here in February, this bill was introduced.
What's interesting to me is the fact that it took so long. We had three years. Now, one of two things could have happened. There could have been extensive consultations to bring a consensus around this, and we wouldn't have had pretty much everyone show up here with a concern with the bill. Otherwise, it means this has just been dumped at the last minute as a political tool, with the election looming.
It just seems to me that the timing of this particular bill is interesting, and perhaps I am a little cynical about it. I see the connection between your December 4 gathering here in Ottawa and the plea for this, and then the bill being introduced. The consultations happened prior to this. What was preventing this bill from being introduced two years ago?