Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to commend and thank the hon. member for Churchill for his presentation.
I would like him to comment on the unfortunate statements recently made by the minister of Indian affairs, who dabbled as a futurist by speculating on the future of a sovereign Quebec and its relations with the native communities.
You may recall the inflammatory, aggressive and irresponsible comments made by this minister, which caused quite an uproar in Quebec. Fortunately, the great native leader Ovide Mercredi acted
more responsibly and rebuffed the minister of Indian affairs by telling him-if I remember correctly-that this was not the time, that he had no right to manipulate native communities in their relations with the government of a sovereign Quebec.
Given the role played by the hon. member for Churchill in the history of Canada and Quebec-remember Meech Lake-I would like to know what he thinks of these statements and this debate and where he stands on all this.