Mr. Speaker, I would like to say that I have had many conversations with members of the Norway House band over the last year and a half. It is important for members to understand and agree that before parliament ratifies and passes this kind of legislation we understand where the members of the band are coming from and whether there is consensus. There should be at least general consensus on the part of the people who are most affected by this bill that it is something they can support.
I want to talk a bit about the referendum results. I believe this is critical to this issue.
The Norway House Indian band held a referendum to determine whether or not they wanted to proceed with the agreement that this bill represents. I began getting calls to my office a little more than a year ago from band members who were making serious allegations over irregularities and improprieties surrounding the vote.
The first allegation made was that the initial referendum failed. The Norway House band actually held a vote and the band council, I think in partnership with the department of Indian affairs, decided to hold a second vote on exactly the same agreement. Nothing had changed.
The second allegation that was made was that the second vote was conducted, but not before a liberal amount of money was used to buy votes. I do not know if that is true, but that was what I was told.