Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Minister, the Oka crisis cost the life of Corporal Marcel Lemay. It created deep wounds in Quebec society.
In his book, The Inconvenient Indian, Mr. Thomas King recalled that the deployment of the army at Oka had cost nearly $200 million, while the territories claimed by the Mohawks and ceded to them in 1997 were acquired for only $5.2 million.
The Oka crisis has also taught us that we need to talk to each other and that politicians need to take responsibility. There are several parallels between the Oka crisis and the one that is now coming to an end. What have we learned? What did we not understand? If the federal government had assumed its responsibilities, there might have been fewer crises downstream.
Why didn't the federal government act sooner to prevent this crisis?