Mr. Speaker, I listened to the parliamentary secretary's remarks. I was offended that he would refer to me as ignorant. He may disagree with me on a philosophical basis and that is fine; that is what Parliament is all about. However I can assure the House that I am not ignorant. I am not ignorant on this issue. I have spent a great deal of time on it.
I should like to respond to some of the remarks the member made in talking about representatives of native people. I have never had the opportunity to spend much time in the member's riding, but I have spent a great deal of time in British Columbia and I have met with many aboriginal people. I can assure the member that great numbers of aboriginal people have real concerns about their own leadership.
In my riding massive amounts of federal tax dollars are turned over to aboriginal leaders with no accountability whatsoever. Members of that community cannot even go to into the band office to get a breakdown of how the money is being spent. We see aboriginal leaders driving around in fancy new pickup trucks and fancy new cars while the people in their communities are getting by on virtually nothing. That is the kind of situation we are faced with in British Columbia.
I find it very difficult to listen to the member talk about representatives of aboriginal people. There are any deeply concerned people in my constituency who write to the ministers involved: the Minister of Health, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, and the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.
In the case of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans they write to tell him they have a problem supporting the AFS. There is no accountability for how that money is being distributed. They just see a bunch of rangers going around their communities with fancy new pickups and new jet boats. There is no accounting of how the money is being spent.
The Minister of Health is signing health agreements with aboriginal hereditary groups, not elected representatives, in my riding. The people who live in those communities come to me with serious concerns about the future of health care for them under that kind of system. The native leadership in those instances is always
talking about how it is working for the good of its people and how it is trying to further the interests of its people.
In many instances they are not concerned about their people. They are concerned about their personal well-being. They are making sure they are well off while the rest of the people in those communities are left to suffer and are hung out to dry.
That is why the aboriginal people in British Columbia voted against the Charlottetown accord. That is why they do not want self-government. In spite of all the grandiose statements by people like Ovide Mercredi and the federal minister of Indian affairs and the minister of aboriginal affairs in British Columbia, these people do not want it and it should not be shoved down their throats. Their individual rights and equality should be respected by the Government of Canada, not abrogated and trampled on.