At the time, the conditions weren't in place. They still weren't when the important Crown-First Nations meeting was held in January 2012. Indigenous politicians were not in favour of taking this step.
We're now in 2024, and I'm absolutely in favour of such a move. The time is right. I believe that after the next election, the elected government will be able to pass a bill simply stipulating that over the next 10 years, the Indian Act will be withdrawn.
I want to be very clear on that. There's no reason the next Parliament, after the next election, could not pass a bill—you're the only people who get to legislate—that says 10 years from coming into force, the Indian Act is repealed. That would force everybody into a decade of hard work on the exit strategy.