Mr. Speaker, last week, on Wednesday, to be exact, I asked the Minister of Indian Affairs two questions about the forgotten people of Oka. Of course, the questions were based on a letter from the Kanesatake Chamber of Commerce written on April 26 to the Right Hon. Jean Chrétien, with copies to Lucien Bouchard, Claude Bachand and Ron Irwin.
In this letter, the president of the Chamber of Commerce mentions several irregularities, including the diversion of funds from the band council; that is, economic development funds were used for other purposes.
In answer to the question I asked him, the minister said that he did not have the letter, which as I just told you was dated April 26. I would really like to have an answer concerning the allegations of diversion of funds.
The second question concerned the decline in economic development in the Kanesatake community. The Chamber of Commerce represents 80 per cent of the native businesses in Kanesatake and of course all the violence, insecurity and instability in Kanesatake have led to huge economic losses.
Naturally, all businesses are facing economic decline. On that subject, the minister reminded me that it was the previous government that had brought the army out, while this government was prepared to negotiate and was bringing natives from Kanesatake to Ottawa to deal with them. In that respect, I think the hon. minister is mistaken; economic development problems in Kanesatake are due to a greater extent to mismanagement on the part of the government.
Examples abound where it has become almost indecent to see how the federal government is washing its hands of an economic situation created mainly by a small group of offenders known to everyone out there. The government must know who they are as well. So, what does the government do to solve the problem? Nothing at all.
Theft, vandalism and violence continue. It is no small task to go shopping in Kanesatake when you are greeted with machine gun fire and wonder if you are not in a western movie.
Unfortunately, reality in this case goes beyond fiction. Audio material show that night after night, there is non-stop shooting in Kanesatake. You do not have to think too long to figure out why businesses are on the decline.
People wonder what the government intends to do to curb this decline and why it does not take seriously the whole issue of public safety in Kanesatake.
Just yesterday two gas tanks blew up in Kanesatake; one in "la Pinède" in Oka, and the other one in Les Terrasses Raymond, with the result that the entire community had no sleep all night.
Every day violence breaks out. Even the children in the Kanesatake school have written the Chief to tell him this has to stop. This must be stopped because I think the children even said in their letter that they were afraid to ride their bikes and walk in the village.
People are unable to insure their homes and businesses. Mortgages are not being renewed because of the unstable climate, and nobody is doing anything. The government is acting with carelessness in this matter.
My question is this: Regarding the alleged misappropriation of funds, what is the government doing to correct the situation and, regarding economic development, what concrete measures does the government intend to take to restore public safety in Kanesatake and give businesses the help they expect from their government to overcome this crisis once and for all?