Madam Chair, I think everyone should take a deep breath.
Last week, when it came time to vote and when the matter was debated in the House, I also agreed that the issue should be referred to a committee for further consideration.
I subsequently received a telephone call from Ms. Beverley Jacobs and another one from Ms. Gabriel. They could not understand why we would support legislation like this when they had not even been consulted. These women speak for thousands of aboriginal women. It's incorrect to say that they do not represent thousands of aboriginal women, because they represents groups of...
I attend their meeting or their general assembly every year. The women in attendance represent many different aboriginal peoples and together they talk about their needs.
If they are here today telling us that they want to be consulted and that it's not enough for them to have a botched piece of legislation, then it has to mean that this bill fails to take their specific needs into account. Therein lies the problem. It is not that we do not want aboriginal women to have rights. We want these rights to take into account their specific needs.
The bill as drafted failed to do that. That was the biggest stumbling block, namely the fact that it did not take into account their specific needs.
We were supposed to have a briefing with the minister, Mr. Strahl, and twice that briefing was cancelled. I also think that there is a lack of good will somewhere.