Bill C-51 as currently written would capture everything under Idle No More. Imagine that. Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come of the Grand Council of the Crees offered a quote for my submission as well, to the effect that had their activities been done today as opposed to back then, the James Bay agreement would not have been negotiated. They would all be in jail. The Idle No More movement, which was a historical coming together of first nations and Canadians peacefully dancing, singing, and drumming, would now all be monitored—if not already, as the media has indicated—and maybe with arbitrary detentions.
All of these things are very frightening for this country. Keep in mind that the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples protects us, grants us and recognizes international customary law that we can act autonomously, that we can occupy our lands. Under the Department of National Defence's manual, occupying our lands, advocating for our autonomy, and advocating for political rights are described as insurgency, alongside jihadists. It is no comfort that there is a proviso saying that lawful activity, lawful dissent, lawful protest, lawful art—whatever that is—won't be captured by this bill, because the second we do a round dance in the street without a permit, it very quickly becomes unlawful.
We have to remember—I already went over this—all of the very validly enacted laws that Canada has had that have ended up in the killing, murder, rape, violence, sterilization, and scalping of our people. Those were valid laws. The only way to protect ourselves was to act with unlawful resistance.
What we're saying now is that the clear and present danger to first nations and Canadians is environmental destruction and the contamination of our water. We have a right to defend our life, liberty, and security to protect our future generations. Under this bill, that will all be captured as a threat to national security and/or to be terrorism.