Madam Speaker, I do appreciate the chance to question the member on some of the things he has said. As a fellow MP from British Columbia, I share his concern that aboriginal issues are getting short shrift, especially here in Parliament by the government and the minister who seem to think, as with so many other issues, they have a made in Ottawa solution to what is really a problem affecting primarily B.C.
B.C. is the area that is not covered by treaties within the country. Depending on who we believe, it is a $5 billion to $10 billion question. It is a huge issue, which even touches on the Constitution, where rights are entrenched and different rights are given to different people. It is a big issue in British Columbia. The government should take heed that this issue is something that also could be very divisive in the country if it is not handled and settled properly.
Last week I was home on Friday and attended a public meeting where the chief federal negotiator for the southern half of the province gave a talk on the progress to date of the aboriginal land claim settlements. Afterwards we had a question and answer period. During that time I said there are three things I think people are saying they want to see happen in this federal negotiation for eventual settlement of the land claims. First, they want finality to any agreements. They do not want any leap-frogging ability and they do not want anybody to be able to reopen these cases in the future. When the deal is settled they want it settled for good. In other words, we do not want to do this again 10 years from now.
Second, they say they want any deal they make with aboriginal communities in order to settle outstanding land claims to reinforce the idea of equality rather than inequality, hyphenated Canadians. If it does not lead to that equality in taxation and before the law, I do not think British Columbians are going to support it.
Third, I asked the negotiator what his specific instructions are when it comes to the bottom line. In other words, how much money are we talking here? Are we talking $10 billion or are we talking $5 billion or $1 billion? The rumour mill is rampant. Mr. Cashore, the minister in British Columbia, has thrown out a $10 billion figure. His response was you hate it as a negotiator when somebody starts throwing out those figures because it makes it so difficult to have negotiations. He says that hidden away in his vault is an envelope with some kind of figure inside concerning how many dollars we are talking about. Because there is no openness in this process and we are dealing with rumours of rumours. I wonder if the hon. member could comment on those three things, about the finality or the extinguishment clause that should be in these agreements, on the principle of moving toward equality of all Canadians and because the minister will not give us anything, if he has any idea what kind of a bottom line we are looking at when it comes to settlement of British Columbia land claim issues.