Madam Speaker, I listened very carefully to the last speaker. Unfortunately, I did not sense in his speech the real human dimension of the problem faced by natives in Quebec and, let us be frank, in all areas of Canada.
The debate revolves around a ten-year old dispute between Quebec and the federal government. And I would point out that the federal government has already paid out a considerable amount of money.
However, I will leave it to my colleagues on this side to make speeches that will undoubtedly be brilliant and informative for the opposition.
What I find unfortunate in the statements of the opposition is the fact that they did not speak about the social, human and economic situation in which Quebec's natives live. I think that it would have been more humble, more humane for the opposition to focus more on the means of helping these people to improve their lot. This has been a point of contention for several years now.
I remember that in 1981, under the PQ government, 1,000 police officers invaded-that is the word, invaded-the Restigouche reserve. That was unfortunate and I think that that is when the relations between natives and Quebecers began to deteriorate. I believe that we do not do enough for natives. I think that we should encourage dialogue instead of resorting to fear mongering, threats and statements like: "If it had been up to Quebec, we would have solved the problem long ago".
I ask the official opposition to make a proper evaluation of the situation and not to confuse the issue with sovereignty and with the upcoming referendum debate. I think that the first step should be to consider the economic and social situation of Quebec's natives as well as their problems. I think that that should be the real subject of the debate. It is not a money issue, but a human issue that we should address in a co-operative fashion.