Thank you, Lisa.
Now we have finished this round. I'm sorry, but that went to six minutes. We're doing five minutes, guys. I'm really trying to give leeway here, but I can't keep adding minutes all the time. I can see my next panel sitting out there, ready to come on.
Before we move to see if we can do a third round, which I doubt very much we can do.... I sometimes don't ask questions, because if I think the answers are being given, I don't necessarily intervene, but there was a lot said at this panel that I want to reflect on, and maybe more so than by asking a question.
We've been across this country. If we've heard one thing over and over, we've heard that the root causes of violence stem originally from colonization. I heard Nicole asking if you can tell us of any country that's better. Well, in 1997 when Canada--and I was the minister in charge at the time--took to the Santiago conference the issue of aboriginal people and their rights as peoples, not population demographics, there was a lot of pushback from Latin American countries that also are “new world countries” and therefore have been colonizing their people.
We've seen Australia. We've visited. We've heard from New Zealand and from the Sami, etc. While I think there is a sense...and I believe you have spoken very movingly about the continuing systemic discrimination. It is systemic, and therefore, apologies are fine and wonderful, I think, but if you don't have the system changing...and the institutions of the system have to change. I have heard very moving testimony across this country that those systems have not changed, that the nice words aren't followed by respect, by empowerment, and by allowing us to move away from the sense that aboriginal people are some second class of people, some savage groups who are no longer capable of living with us and who are stereotyped as being all of the things you hear people stereotyping aboriginal people as--and who were here over 40,000 years before the colonials came.
So you are absolutely right, and I want you to know that this committee has heard from all over this country the testimony that you do not want to be patronized anymore; that you don't want people to study the issue anymore; that you don't want people to say okay, thank you, and then pat you on the head and move on; that it's going to take generations for the intergenerational harm to heal; and that healing does not occur right away. I have heard all of that, and I just want you to know that it has been extremely moving for many of us who have been here and for all of us who have heard it.
If the political will around this table will have effect, I can tell you that for the members--whether they are people who have been on the committee for a long time or people who have moved into the committee to participate just temporarily--that message in many instances has been given. But you are absolutely right: political will is what is necessary to change things. That is something this committee has always been very clear on in regard to what we want to say, but political will is what it's about at the end of the day. So for your issue of hope, I think the hope will have to be within the strength of our report and the political will to ensure the report is listened to.
I want to thank you very much for coming.
Lisa, you reminded me at the very beginning--you didn't actually say it to me, but you reminded me--that we want to thank the Coast Salish people for allowing us to meet here today on their territory.
Thank you very much to those of you who have come here today and for your very frank discussion.
Before you leave, we could do one more three-minute round if you want to say anything, but it means that I'm going to be brutal about the three minutes. All right?
Okay, I'm hearing....