Mr. Speaker, on March 22 we made history in B.C. An agreement in principle with the Nisga'a people was signed on their land, the Nass Valley, by Chief Joe Gosnell, Minister John Cashore, and the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.
It was a great event for all British Columbians and for those invited participants who attended. I was there. There was a full house. Unfortunately for some reason the member of Parliament for Skeena chose to miss the occasion.
It took the Nisga'a over 20 years of negotiations to reach an agreement. It took hours and weeks of work and talks to arrive at the signing of the agreement. It took 129 years to complete the process.
Mr. Speaker, do you not think we should all celebrate for making a historic wrong right through an honourable process? To call this apartheid, as some of my colleagues in the Reform Party are doing, does not recognize the reality that apartheid was not achieved through negotiation but by decree.
I know there are some concerns on both sides, but let us be proud of this achievement. Let us all work together as equals.