Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time.
I rise to express my concern and shock at the motion of the hon. member from North Island-Powell River. He asks us to delay the land claims process in British Columbia during the final year of the mandate of the provincial government.
It makes me wonder if he and his colleagues will not be here next year with a similar motion asking us to delay it for the first year of the mandate of the next government while it gets itself organized. It seems to me that in Canada we cannot proceed in that fashion.
The Government of Canada has maintained that providing justice and equity for aboriginal peoples requires two ingredients, self-government and a process for making modern day treaties through comprehensive claims. Canadians have been wrestling with these issues for years. The Reform Party has used the self-government issue to fan the flames of fear and apprehension during the debates over the Charlottetown accord. Now it continues to stir up controversy in British Columbia through its misrepresentations of the treaty process.
I heard hon. members opposite make a great deal of the media reports of the total First Nations claims adding up to 110 percent of the province of British Columbia. The total should not surprise us. Why should the claims not overlap one another? The First Nations have shared the land and its resources for centuries. They have migrated and tapped the resources of different locales at different times.
They have been asked as a part of the treaty making process to describe the geographic area of the First Nation's traditional territory of British Columbia. They provide a map of the traditional areas of their ancestors. This map depicts the territory of a nation as it occupied it historically. These maps are used to provide negotiators with a general idea of what area of land is under question. This is simply part of stage one of the process which is called a statement of intent.
A statement of intent is not a settlement. A claim is not a treaty. A treaty is the result of negotiations, and those negotiations are just beginning. The claims are but the starting bargaining position. No First Nation would expect to receive the entire region described in its statement of intent. The First Nations do not expect a fee simple title to the entire province. When two First Nations have overlapping traditional territories, they will settle the matter as the negotiations proceed. The federal and provincial governments do not participate in negotiating an overlap settlement.
Several members from across the floor, members who ought to know better, have been using the claims to instil fear among British Columbians. They infer that these opening positions will lead to lost property for third parties across the province. They ask British Columbians: "What will become of your summer cottages? What will happen to jobs in the mining and forestry sectors? What will happen to the fisheries?" They raised these fears without adding that the treaty process provides for cottage owners and a broad spectrum of the industries of British Columbia to have a voice in the process.
They neglect to tell the people at town hall meetings or on radio talk shows the Government of Canada consults with a treaty negotiations advisory committee representing many of their interests. They do not tell people no negotiations can proceed until a regional advisory committee has been created to provide the views of British Columbians from that part of the province who are not at the negotiating table.
This pattern of misinformation and fear mongering is typical of the tactics some members on the other side of the House have used to score cheap political points. They have often criticized the government for its dedication to the inherent right of self-government as a cornerstone of the Government of Canada's aboriginal policy.
We have said since the beginning, since the red book that provided our election platform, that we believe the inherent right of self-government is an existing right within Canada's Constitution.
Hon. members across the floor have often made the case that no one has defined what self-government means. That argument has been erected as an obstacle to prevent justice from getting through to aboriginal communities across the entire country. That argument speaks to a kind of mean spirited and narrow minded approach that has thwarted efforts to bring justice to aboriginal issues. It speaks for the tyranny of the status quo. It speaks for the preservation of the paternalism of the Indian Act. Is that what Reform members want to uphold? I like to think not. Do they really want to impede progress, impede the righting of past wrongs, impede certainty for the future, impede economic stability, impede job creation?
All Canadians want the claims settled. They want an end to the uncertainty, an end to ancient wrongs. The negotiations are about how, not whether, the settlements should be resolved.
We want to make progress. One way we are doing this is by acknowledging that the inherent right to self-government is an existing right. We are now negotiating with the First Nations on how that right is to be implemented.
I would like to remind the House of the six stages that a claim must go through before a treaty comes into effect. I think hon. members will observe this is a very thorough process.
In the first step a First Nation files a statement of intent with the B.C. Treaty Commission. The commission makes sure the statement is complete and forwards it to the federal and provincial governments. It is at this stage that the First Nation describes the geographic area in British Columbia it considers its traditional territory. Forty-seven statements of intent have been filed. These represent over 70 per cent of the aboriginal people of British Columbia. That is progress.
Second, the commission convenes a meeting to prepare for the negotiations. All three parties exchange information, consider the criteria, discuss the research they will do to prepare for the negotiations and identify issues of concern. Each party appoints a negotiator with a clear mandate. Each party establishes a ratification procedure, and the parties agree on the substantive and procedural matters that will be negotiated.
This is the stage at which Canada and the British Columbia government establish their own mechanisms for consultation with non-aboriginal interests. One requirement the B.C. Treaty Commission imposes on the two governments is the establishment of a regional consultative mechanism to represent thirty party interests.
When the commission determines that all three parties have met the criteria for readiness, it confirms they can proceed to stage three. This is where all three parties negotiate a framework agreement, a negotiated agenda that identifies the issues to be negotiated, the goals of the negotiation process, special procedural arrangements and a timetable for the negotiations.
So far four framework agreements have been signed and another four initialled by the negotiators. Again, this is progress.
In the fourth stage of the treaty process the parties negotiate an agreement in principle. These are substantive negotiations and the parties examine the framework in detail.
Fifth, the principals negotiate to finalize the treaty. Any remaining technical and legal issues are resolved at this stage. Then, and only then, the sixth stage is the implementation of the treaty. Long term implementation plans need to be tailored to specific agreements.
All commissions agree that significant progress has been made by the treaty process. The B.C. treaty commission process is working. It is fair, equitable and open. No one denies that the negotiations ahead will be tough. There are some very complex issues to be brought to the table. However, it is time that we settled these claims so that all British Columbians, aboriginal and non-aboriginal, can get on with the job of building a prosperous society in that province, a society where all groups can enjoy the wealth of resources the province can offer. It will benefit all British Columbians.
It is time to get on with the job. It is not a time for fearmongering. It is a time for fairness and certainty. It is certainly not a time for delaying while we wait for a provincial election which would create a precedent and would be very much uncalled for.
I do not represent aboriginal people who have claims that are hundreds of years old. I represent over 2,000 aboriginal people. Their treaty was signed in 1923, in modern times. Yesterday I attended a funeral in my riding of the first woman Indian chief in Canada. She died at the age of 73. In 1953, when she first became a chief, she was a young woman and a young mother who was concerned about these issues. When she died, only this week, she was still concerned about them. Her mother died two years ago at the age of 103. Throughout her life she was active in trying to resolve the problems of the First Nations in my riding.
The native people would like to negotiate. I think all Canadians would like to negotiate. Every time we have a standoff all Canadians suffer. I am very concerned that the member would bring forward such a motion today.