Mr. Speaker, I listened with real intent and interest to my colleague who just spoke. He referred to clauses of Bill C-49 with regard to accountability which is very reassuring.
However, we all know that the requirements for accountability in every facet of expenditures of money in the interests of Indian people have always been there. Those requirements for accountability have always been there yet we hear from the grassroots people, Indian people, some of whom I have spoken to this afternoon.
When I ask them about Indian self-government and what they think about it, they tell me they are concerned about it. I ask why they would be concerned about. They tell me very clearly that they are concerned about granting their leaders greater powers and authorities over them. When I ask what the problem is now, they go on and on at length to explain the problems. My colleague from Wild Rose and my colleague from Skeena have given examples of the problems the grassroots people have.
I do not think there is anyone in Canada who would not be willing to continue the direction of resources into the aboriginal community for the benefit of their standard of living, education and so on. But if it is not reaching them, as the word is coming to us over and over again from all points on the compass, then we have to look at the whole area of accountability.
Bill C-49 will pass, but it is the duty and the responsibility of members in opposition to warn about the defects of the bill as we see them. The whole area of accountability is of very serious concern to us and to all members who have talked to Indian people at the grassroots level.
The unfortunate problem is that there are aboriginal people at the grassroots who cannot take their concerns to their chief and council for whatever reason. They cannot take their concerns to the minister because the minister will be criticized and attacked by the chief and council if she begins to meet with the grassroots. She will be accused of going around the local elected representatives. The minister is caught in a bind in this regard.
I do not know what the answer is other than to insist on accountability for 25% of those bands that are not acting responsibly even though there are guidelines for accountability in terms of the expenditure of money for the welfare of Indian children and in terms of schooling, education, health care and their standard of living. There is a lack of accountability for the expenditure of funds at the band level. There is a concern.
We are putting our warning voice on record in this regard. No one in the House does not want to see aboriginal self-government. However it has not been defined yet. Why has the government not defined it? Why do we not have a model upon which to base it and allow the aboriginal people to take greater charge over their own lives and their own affairs? It must be done on the basis of accountability to their own grassroots people.
I do not know what the answers are to many of the problems I have heard about. They are not unlike those of the larger Canadian society. We as the Reform Party are asking for populist principles which allow for the people to hold their elected representatives more accountable for the manner in which they run the affairs of the country, including plunging us into debt and having many of the children living in poverty after taxing us at the highest rate of the G-7 countries, after borrowing and spending $585 billion over the last 25 or 30 years. Still one child in every five is reported to be living in poverty.
There must be greater accountability in this place. We want more free votes in the House. We want the right of the people to recall us if we do not honestly and faithfully represent their views and concerns. That is the kind of mechanism within any level of government which the people must have. Perhaps it is the answer for aboriginal people and those answers must come from them.
The degree of accountability in the bill looks good. There are policies and regulations demanding and calling for accountability in the way moneys are expended, yet we still hear the cry from the grassroots. Until that cry is listened to and the problems are addressed, the bill may be simply adding to the problems of the grassroots, not to the problems of the Reform, Bloc, NDP, PC or the Liberal members of the House. It may be adding to the problems we hear coming from the grassroots in that it will grant greater power and authority over local government. That is where there seems to be a lack of the accountability these people are requesting.
Our duty is to place our concerns on record. We hope everything works out well, as everyone does, but it has not so far. We are saying that the bill is placing a greater degree of power and authority in the hands of the very same people the grassroots are concerned and complaining about.
I will give an example. Laura Deedza lives in my community but she is from one of the northern Alberta reserves. She has been trying to get financial statements from her band. For months she has had nothing but a fight on her hands as she has been trying to get even parts of those financial statements for the present year and for years past. She has nowhere to go except to the minister. She is continually complaining to my office that she meets a brick wall at that level. The procedures for access to these kinds of documents are clearly outlined in the bill. They are outlined as well for financial statements to which every band member is supposed to have access. Laura is just one of many. She is continually asking us for help.
The meeting which will allow for grassroots people to express their concerns further to members of parliament on Saturday in Edmonton ought to be attended by every concerned member of parliament to hear what they have to say and to bring that message back to the House. I wish members of the government would attend that meeting as well so that they can hear directly from the grassroots people and take their concerns back to the minister and back to cabinet.