Mr. Speaker, I would say right off that the minister's plan of action is somewhat incoherent. I will elaborate a little later.
To announce today that this bill is going to amend the Indian Act, which the government has been saying it wants to get rid of for the past three years now, and to say that consultations were very broad, when 550 of 600 native communities in Canada are opposed, is a bit misleading.
I would say first off that the Bloc Quebecois will oppose this bill and the fast track approach. Things are not being speeded up to give the committee a better opportunity to introduce amendments, but to have the bill passed quickly.
I also find it odd that the bill is before the House on the very day the budget is being presented. There is a whole circus underway outside the House, and everyone is focussing on the budget and not on this bill. I think the minister has created a smoke screen. There is a historical context. Before we know where we are going, we have to establish where we are. We have to set out the background.
Before the Europeans came to North America, as the great capitals of the 14th and 15th centuries, like London and Paris, gained international stature, they had no idea that there was another continent with a native population spread across its entirety. There was no problem, because the two continents perhaps had no knowledge of each other.
The problems began at the moment of contact. I am talking about the period that goes from the 16th century to the 19th century. Curiosity and mutual mistrust are normal when two civilizations first meet. Neither knows what the other wants and what the others are up to. There is a period of adjustment. Gifts are exchanges, items are traded-a bit like today's diplomacy. That is the way it was at the time.
These relations evolved. Eventually, relations were established between the First Nations and the Europeans in a wide range of areas, including not only trade but also military co-operation and coalitions. This marked the beginning of the whole treaty era.
Of course, on one side there were the Europeans, vested with the authority of their king and equipped with their seals to stamp on the treaties they signed, while the aboriginal peoples, on the other side, had a totally different philosophy.
In fact, I have a few lines to read you because references are often made to the wampum and I think it is important to explain what it is. The aboriginal peoples' philosophy is clearly explained. Their equivalent to the royal seal was a wampum exchange.
A white wampum background symbolizes the purity of the agreement. Two rows of purple beads represent the spirits of our respective ancestors.
They had respect not only for their own ancestors, but also for the ancestors of those they were dealing with.
Between these two rows are three wampum beads symbolizing peace, friendship and respect. The two rows represent parallel paths, two boats moving side by side on the same river. One is a birch bark canoe, representing the aboriginal people, with their laws, customs and traditions, and the other is a ship, representing the white people, with their laws, customs and traditions. We travel together, but in our own boats. Neither shall try to steer the other's boat.
That was the aboriginal peoples' philosophy, a far cry from that of the Europeans who were thinking in terms of terra nullius , land waiting to be conquered. The treaties were signed in good faith by the aboriginal people. They may not have stamped a royal seal on them, because the custom in those days was to exchange wampum.
Then there was the royal proclamation, and, again, the paternalistic tone the minister uses was very prevalent at the time.
Let me read you an excerpt of the royal proclamation: "And since it is fair, reasonable and essential to our interests-the crown's interests-and to the safety of our colonies-the crown's colonies-that the various nations of savages-as they were called back then-with whom we have some contact and who live under our protection, be neither disturbed nor bothered regarding the ownership of such parts of our domains or territories that were neither bequeathed to us, nor bought by us, these areas are reserved for their use as hunting grounds-" and so on.
This gives an idea of the tone. What is important however, is that, at the time, native people felt this was from nation to nation. They considered that the king was dealing on those terms, even though the tone was definitely paternalistic.
It is in regard to the issue of protection that the federal government resorted to subtleties and developed its scheme to assimilate native people.
In the 19th century, the quasi-equality began to erode. The famous immigration policy was in effect, and boats full of people kept arriving on the continent. By 1812, there were ten times more new immigrants than natives, because the latter had been decimated by various diseases.
The fur trade was also suffering badly. So, the colonies, the Dominion, no longer needed the manpower provided by native people for the fur trade. Things began to change. The economy's new sectors were the forest, wood, agriculture and mining industries.
Then the natives started to be perceived as people who should be removed. With the new economy, native people became an obstacle to the federal government, and I dare say that, given the measures that are being taken and the paternalistic attitudes of this government-they are almost hereditary in government-things have not changed much. The idea that Europeans were superior continued to develop.
The minister is telling us that he will ram through these amendments to the Indian Act. Why is he doing that, if not because he has some authority and is making full use of it in deciding the future of Canada's native people? There are some 500,000 native people in Canada. The minister is saying: "I have the authority. I know you are against this measure, but I will do what is good for you". Things have not changed much since the early days of the colonies.
At the time, the subtlety was in using the famous protection of the royal proclamation, which, for the government, for the Dominion, became a domination-assimilation process. And then the machinery of assimilation kicked in.
In 1849, government, democratic institutions, did something terrible: they created residential schools. The government began taking children from native bands and putting them in residential schools in order to stamp out their culture and their language, so that they could be assimilated with immigrants, who were ten times more numerous. White people outnumbered native people ten to one at the time.
In 1867, a date we keep hearing in all the praise coming from the Liberal party and from all the federalist parties, the Constitution of Canada was signed by the Fathers of Confederation, but no natives were present. In fact, the then newly elected Prime Minister said he wanted to do away with the band system and completely assimilate Indians into the Dominion.
So now we can see a little better why the government at the time felt it had to stamp out the native system of government. It was at this point that the Indian Act, which is completely consistent with Confederation, was introduced in order to regulate all aspects of native people's lives. Not only were children placed in residential schools but, as well, native peoples were told: "Your governments will no longer operate like that. You will elect them in the manner we tell you. We will drive you from your lands sometimes and, if there is no game in one location, we will send you somewhere else. We will decide". In addition, if there were important minerals in a particular location, the government said: "There is no longer any game in this location, so we are going to send you elsewhere", using that excuse to move them so they could make money.
Things went on this way. These displacements were considered to be "in the national interest" at the time.
In 1969, the present Prime Minister, then Minister of Indian Affairs, presented his white paper. It was the same thing all over again: the machinery of assimilation continued forward. He said the Indian Act would have to be abolished. We are hearing the same thing from the minister today. This was the equality they were talking about. Once again, native peoples rose up.
Finally, the native peoples took charge of their destiny. There was an international movement and, relying on the legal aspect, natives began to say: "There are people elsewhere on the planet who are victims just like us". Finally, the Supreme Court and the superior courts in each of the provinces kept handing down decisions in favour of native peoples, with the result that, in 1982, the government had to add to the Canadian Constitution section 35, which protects their ancestral rights.
This is the tradition in which the minister follows. He has not kept the promises in the red book. Furthermore, David Nahwegahbow and Russell Diabo, who wrote the book themselves, said: "They broke their promises, so we are withdrawing".
There were phoney consultations, as I have said. In addition, 550 aboriginal communities want nothing to do with this bill, but the minister is forging ahead anyway, confronting the opposition parties, the official opposition and the Reform Party, and flying in the face of the philosophy contained in the Erasmus-Dussault report.
History will judge the minister. It is not too late for him to do something. If he withdraws his bill, perhaps history will remember him as someone progressive, but if he goes ahead, he will be seen as part of the machinery of assimilation like all the others.