Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My thanks to all of you for coming to appear before us today.
Ever since we started this oil sands study, I have had lots of conversations with my father. He consistently says to me that man is the greediest animal on earth. I don't know if that's fair in the context of this study, but it ever comes to mind when I think about this huge machine grabbing more land and basically rolling over people. It's almost out of control, it seems. I guess part of what we're trying to do is ascertain if it is out of control, if it is sustainable, and I have real questions about that.
Your perspectives today, particularly those of Ms. Blake and Elder Marcel, have started to provide some balance to what we're hearing from other witnesses. And Mr. Allen also has a perspective, one that we've heard much of over the last number of weeks. I question whether the development as it exists—let alone expansion of it—is sustainable. There are enormous questions that we have to come to grips with as a committee.
My personal feeling on this is that the perspective you gave around infrastructure, about the environment, Chief Marcel, and your people—I would agree with Mr. Trost—and your community is probably not unique. But what it tells me is that we've done a piss-poor job of dealing honourably with our aboriginal peoples wherever the hell we live in this country. That's what this tells me. We've done a bad job.
I'd like to ask a direct question. Would you like to see a moratorium on this development until we come to grips with some of the challenges we have, until we have an honourable relationship with our aboriginal people, until we have the infrastructure, plans, and some money in the bank, so to speak, to help out with the burgeoning of your community, and until we come to grips with putting some caps on CO2 emissions, greenhouse emissions, and these types of things? Do you think we need to have a moratorium? That's not saying we'll stop it altogether forever, but just so we can come to grips with some of these challenges. I think the federal government has a role to play, particularly with aboriginal people. Under section 91, class 24, of the Constitution, we have a responsibility for “Indians, and Lands reserved for the Indians”. We have a responsibility to uphold “existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples” under section 35. We have responsibilities, and I think our committee is going to have to make some tough recommendations as we go forward.
I'd like to have comments from all three of you on that issue of a moratorium.