It's not just a statement. It's a treaty provision. I would strongly recommend that the standing committee have a presentation and be better informed on what the wording of the treaties is. That would help the crown better understand its obligations.
That treaty was made at a time after the American Revolution when Captain Joseph Brant, whose portrait is here in this room, committed our loyalty to the crown. We lost our homeland.
We were compensated with the Haldimand deed, the treaty there, and the Simcoe deed, Treaty No. 3½, which put 97,000 acres of our land under the protection of the crown. One of the things that the crown agreed to in that relationship was that they would protect the land from trespass. Instead, all the crown did was accommodate illegal alienation, with fee simple deeds being given to third parties without a surrender of the land required by the treaty and also by the royal proclamation.
Canada has not followed its own legislation and treaty obligations in its dealings, so we have these outstanding issues.