[Witness spoke in indigenous language]
[Translation]
My name is Mario Huneault. I'm from the wolf clan. I'm Wendat. I wish I didn't have to stand before you today, but the honour of my ancestors has guided me here to you. The duty to speak for those who live in silence and in the shadows has given me the courage to come and share our stories with you—the stories of those who resist, of those who refuse to die. I thank you for this opportunity.
Today, I represent the Wendat group Les Enfants d'Aataentsic, which brings together hundreds of Wendat parents and grandparents affected by exclusion after the second generation—the very people whose future you will decide within these walls.
We laid ourselves bare in the Senate last fall through the courageous actions of my sister Mélanie Savard, and now our ordeal of suffering leads us once again to defend our dignity before you.
I also stand here today in my own name, as a humble Wendat hunter-gatherer. What I am as a Wendat, I owe solely to my weary hands, the sweat I have poured, and to my ancestors. Despite my short stature, I have built a resilient and thriving Wendat family outside the community, with two beautiful children.
However, the story of my lineage now ends here. My grandchildren, present or future, will never be able to live from our territory—the Onyionhwentsiio—as I have, or join me there for our community activities. Lacking status, they will be denied access.
How am I supposed to explain to them that they deserve less than I do to live on this territory, which is at the very heart of our Wendat identity? My heart, my emotions, everything I have built to protect myself is falling apart.
It's urgent that we take action: Our children are currently erased and not even registered; they don't exist. They are “ghosts” within our community. Although they are alive, they suffer in silence while you study their future and conduct further consultations.
Currently, dozens of parents in our group are enduring injustices and humiliation within their own families.
How do you tell your child that they can't attend elementary school because they don't live at the right address? That they live in Wendake, but can't receive medical care there like the others?
How do you explain to your daughter that she can't play in the community hockey tournament with her friends, even though she practises with them every week?
How do you explain to them that they will likely never have access to many community activities? How do you also explain to them that their future as Wendat will be decided without them, without their being able to share their lived experiences and bear witness to a sense of belonging for which they are already shedding tears?
Parents and grandparents, for their part, feel helpless and suffer just as much from a loss of meaning. No one is listening to them, because why pay attention to their children who have been assimilated and “whitened” by your system? They aren't even worthy of inheriting our family heritage. Our children, along with their parents and grandparents, are experiencing a tragic loss of identity and belonging; they're vulnerable and deeply wounded, yet they're still being told that consultations are needed. Enough is enough!
Members of Parliament, you've gone around in circles long enough. We've been humiliated enough. We ask you today to pass Bill S‑2 and the amendments proposed by the Senate to put an end to our families' suffering. I myself have sacrificed enough. A setback will send the signal that the government condones the programmed extinction of our people within about 70 years. The Indian Act will then have triumphed.
Do not make the mistake of conflating Indian status with belonging in order to justify your desire for even more consultations.
Isn't it time to give reconciliation and reparations a real chance through Canada's commitment to putting an end to our programmed extinction? Let us rebuild our community.
Io.