Thank you, Chair.
I think what my colleague Mr. Schmale is suggesting is that we.... That's what I was working toward with the business of yesterday and the take-note debate last night. My team was working with some of the partners. Frankly, it would have been nice if the government had done that ahead of time to get clarity on this definition around “indigenous governing body” and “collectivity”.
I've been working with some of the partners and we are now working with the Library of Parliament and the law clerk to try to draft something that will work for clause 8. I think that would alleviate the concerns of some of the people who have expressed concerns about being caught up in something they don't want to be caught up in, while still respecting the rights of the three Métis governments to represent the people they choose to represent.
Having a bit of time today was the plan to get this nailed down so that by 3:30 today, we could have a solution to clause 8, which would allow us to move on with our consideration of the rest of the legislation.
I think it's a very appropriate request based on what we were expecting and the work we are doing to get an answer, aiming for the 3:30 timeline today, so we can appropriately deal with clause 8.
Thank you.