Mr. Speaker, rather than lecturing Yukoners, members of the Reform Party should be humbly taking lessons from them. Through compromise and consensus Yukoners of all origins have built a foundation for their future together. This is not social and government engineering, as the member of the Reform Party has called it, it is nation building.
On February 14, 1973, Chief Elijah Smith and all Yukon First Nations chiefs presented a petition to Canada to negotiate a comprehensive claim settlement agreement. The petition was entitled: "Together Today For Our Children Tomorrow". On that same day Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau accepted the Yukon Indian request to commence negotiations.
Our present Prime Minister was the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development at that time. As the chair of the Council for Yukon Indians pointed out last week in a presentation to the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, it is entirely appropriate that the Prime Minister conclude the circle of negotiations of our final self-government agreements. Tomorrow is here.
The Reform's amendment would delete clause 5 from Bill C-33. Subclause (1) of clause 5 allows final land claim agreements and transboundary agreements concluded in the future to be given effect by order in council. Subclause (2) of clause 5 requires that such an order in council be tabled in the House of Commons within 30 sitting days after the order is made. The Reform's amendment to delete clause 5 would mean that 10 remaining First Nations final agreements and future transboundary agreements would have to be brought into effect by other acts of Parliament.
Motion No. 1 is unacceptable because first, the four final agreements being given effect by this bill require this bill to provide that future agreements may be given effect by order in council. Deleting clause 5 would make the legislation inconsistent with the four agreements the bill is bringing into effect. Second, clause 5 does not prevent Parliament from reviewing any further agreements. Third, deleting clause 5 would require consequential amendments to other clauses of this bill, for example clauses 14 and 15.
For all of the above reasons, the government finds Motion No. 1 unacceptable.