Mr. Speaker, I am certainly aware that Bill C-107 was passed. I did not get a chance to speak on it and I very much wanted to. With 52 MPs on the Reform side, many of us do not get to speak on the issues we would like to speak on. Since it impacts directly on this I certainly wanted an opportunity to do so.
No one represents the people. I must insist that all the names the hon. member mentioned were appointed, as she said, but who is representing the people of British Columbia? Nobody is.
Aboriginal people have been in distress for too long. Those who know their Canadian history will realize that not just the aboriginal people were in distress in the history of the country. They should know about the Acadians who were torn asunder, who lost family members, who lost their lands, who were sent all over the world and had nothing. Nobody paid them anything. No one re-established them. Nobody did anything. They were good, worthwhile people.
We also had the Loyalists who were driven out of the United States to Canada. They had nothing. They had to leave. What did we do when the Loyalists came to Canada? We did not give them anything to set up. They had to do it on their own. Today they are better off having done that. It makes their lives a lot easier. Too bad we did not do that with the native people.
What about Japanese Canadians? We just took and took. With these examples I am trying to say to the hon. member that we have made mistakes. We admit we have made mistakes, but is it not time to start on an equal basis for everyone? I strongly suggest we should.
Regarding my householders, I keep track and I have been running at a 2 per cent to 6 per cent return. I have about 58,000 in my riding. We do not have them all in at this time because it only went out and we are waiting. We have had over 1,500 returned, so it is 91 per cent of the 1,500. That is the best I can tell the member right now.