Mr. Speaker, it is the intention of this government to treat all Canadians fairly in connection with this legislation. We also are very much aware that aboriginal people have both aboriginal and treaty rights to hunt, and we intend to respect them.
I learned for myself as I travelled the length and breadth of the country last year and visited aboriginal communities how firearms are often treated as a tool and how their use is very much a part of their way of life.
The way we responded to this need is through consultation. Just after the action plan was tabled in the House last November 30, some 690 letters went out with copies of the plan to the aboriginal leadership across Canada. We wrote again to those same 690 leaders of aboriginal communities early this year. We followed up, with the help of about 70 of them, in assembling one of the most comprehensive and unprecedented consultation processes known to the government. In nine regions of Canada we are meeting with representatives of rural, urban, on reserve and off reserve aboriginal persons. In the coming months we will conclude that very direct and personal discussion process to determine how this bill can be implemented in a manner that is sensitive to the reality of aboriginal lifestyles, culture, and treaty rights. We will then prepare regulations, which will be
sent in draft form for comment to those same people. We will then table them in the House for the 30-day review.
We intend to comply with our obligations and respect the rights to which the hon. member has referred.