Madam Chair, I think the power to enact first nation laws is important. However, we did hear some testimony that the government can't grant that power to first nations, because in a nation-to-nation relationship, first nations already occupy that territory. The reason I wanted to speak to this particular clause, though, is that it's an issue of resources. When the acting Human Rights Commissioner came before the committee, there was a reference to a tool kit that has been developed by the Canadian Human Rights Commission. There were resources allocated to that tool kit and a number of nations were involved in developing it.
There is no such support for first nations. I know the members opposite will talk about the centre of excellence for matrimonial real property, but if this act remains unamended, it will go into force within a year. For any nations currently interested in developing matrimonial real property codes that they hope to have in place prior to that one-year transition period, it's not feasible without additional resources. It's fine to have it in the legislation that there is a power to enact. But there is no support for doing that, and it takes time. It takes time to do an appropriate community process. It takes time to develop those laws. It takes time for the community to approve them. Without those resources, it doesn't seem very realistic.