Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent question. He has put his finger on a big part of the problem.
According to the notions that were inculcated in me as I grew up, Canada was founded and based on the notion of civic nationalism. That means our participation in this democracy does not depend on our gender, our colour, our language or our religion. It does not depend on any identifying or distinguishing characteristic. It depends on the fact that we are of the age of majority and we have one person, one vote. We all have the rights and freedoms afforded to us under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Before that rights were extended to us under the British North America Act.
The legislation is another indicator that we have to be on guard against a danger. Canada is in danger of breaking away from the notion of civic nationalism into what I would consider to be a regressive and less attractive notion of ethnic nationalism. We see this expressed in many areas. We even see it expressed in the House. I say that with the greatest of respect, because I do not want to unfairly or without warrant attack any other members of the House.
Let us consider the section of the Constitution that guarantees and spells out our rights and freedoms. The next paragraph states that notwithstanding that we have these rights and freedoms, the government has the right to abrogate them when it feels it is in the best interest of the nation. I do not see how any right thinking person could ever accept that somebody's rights would be taken away for any reason whatsoever. Those rights should be immutable. They should be there as a pillar or a cornerstone never to be affected by any action that government may take.
What is being proposed under the whole concept of Nunavut gets dangerously close to breaking away from the notion of the equality of all Canadians before the law and the right of all Canadians to equal access to the institutions of government, including the institution of justice. It falls perilously close to the notion of ethnic nationalism, which is something I could never support and I believe a majority of Canadians would never support.