Mr. Speaker, yesterday constitutional lawyer Peter Hogg and former deputy minister of justice Ian Binnie appeared before the Senate justice committee on the gun control bill. These two respected lawyers stated unequivocally that the government has not consulted with the aboriginal people, as required by section 35 of the Constitution. According to this testimony the constitutional rights of the aboriginal people have been abrogated by the government. Bill C-68 will directly affect aboriginal treaty rights and therefore they should have been consulted.
Mr. Binni went on to say that Bill C-68 indicates that the government did not consider how the legislation would affect aboriginal people and called it an abdication of their responsibility.
The justice minister states that Bill C-68 is a done deal. I suggest nothing could be further from the truth.