Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his question. I chose to become involved in mainstream politics because I wanted to raise many issues.
As First Nations members we were not even recognized as part of the country for a long time. The first time we were allowed to vote was in 1960 and in the province of Quebec it was 1969. Many of the laws and legislation affecting First Nations people were passed without the full consent and participation of the First Nations people.
It is hard to unravel the history and legislative policies over the last hundreds of years in that short period of time. As a matter of fact I was the first treaty Indian elected in the province of Manitoba about 11 or 12 years ago. Most of my activity in the political field has been in mainstream politics. Before that I was chief of my band.
My ambition was to become involved in mainstream politics and hopefully through my participation many other people will begin to understand First Nations people.