Thank you. I was the Quebec Minister of Public Security at various times and I believe I had a very productive, even pleasant, relationship with the authorities of Kanesatake and Kahnawake—but not with those of Akwesasne—because I respected them and they respected me.
I also understood the Mohawks' land claims that are not yet settled. I know that the lands that were given to the Jesuits for the settlement of your ancestors who were fleeing from the tribal wars in the United States have been sold. They were used to build the seaway, Mercier Bridge, a rail line and the whole city of Brossard.
People said to me that they were not crazy, that they were not asking that the city of Brossard be destroyed so that the land could be given back to the first nations peoples in question. They did say, however, that they were entitled to compensation.
I think you are entitled to compensation as well.
I think that together we managed to resolve the problem of the local police to the satisfaction of the parties. I think I did quite a good job in getting the people of Quebec to accept the agreement as well. We conducted a survey in which we asked people if they would agree to having the aboriginal police officers stop people every morning or every evening when they used roads that went through your reserves, if you were to comply with certain conditions. Surprisingly, 86% of people agreed to do this. So the mayors said nothing, and we were able to work together.
Would it be correct to say that this police arrangement is still working quite well, Mr. Delisle? Perhaps we can work from there to see whether we might find some other arrangements.