Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this motion.
The history of the Metis treatment by the Canadian government is appalling. While we generally support the concept of this motion, and I want to commend the hon. member for bringing forth a motion concerning the recognition of Louis Riel, we would have preferred a much stronger and differently worded motion.
This motion specifically addresses the verdict of high treason pronounced on Louis Riel on August 1, 1885. In effect what this motion would do by revoking the verdict of guilty of high treason would be to pardon the federal government for its abominable treatment of Louis Riel.
Unfortunately what the motion fails to do is to address the substantive issues which continue to oppress Metis today and continue to threaten their children tomorrow. This motion would in effect pardon the federal government by removing the blot on the government's own record while doing nothing concrete to change the lives of the Metis.
The First Nations peoples continue to be treated by government as second class citizens and that would place the Metis families at an even lower caste in the government's eyes. The federal government, even after the release of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples report, continues to do its very best to ignore Metis and place their concerns far on the back burner.
Whether or not Louis Riel day is proclaimed, the government should commit to several fundamentals.
First and foremost this government should recognize that the Metis nation is entitled legally, morally and politically to have access to land bases and land use rights sufficient to fulfil the Metis nation's legitimate aspirations as aboriginal peoples.
Furthermore as my colleague the hon. member for Churchill River who himself is Metis would argue, one of the first steps the government should take is to bring all aboriginal peoples, including the Metis, under section 91(24) of the Constitution Act. Such a move on behalf of this government would truly show to the Metis that the government is sincere in supporting a bright future for these people instead of trying to deny them both their history and their future.
Instead of treating the Metis as an afterthought, the government should negotiate self-government and land claims with the Metis nation on a nation to nation basis. Furthermore why does the government not negotiate with the Metis how they will exercise their aboriginal rights to harvest fish and wildlife? Why has this government not chosen to ensure the Metis have the benefits of programs and services which governments now allocate to First Nations peoples?
As long as this government tries to deny Metis their historic and moral rights, this government will continue to actively condemn Metis to poverty and to the back of the legislative bus.
During the negotiation of Manitoba's entry into Confederation, a grant of 1.4 million acres of land was reserved for the exclusive use of the Metis. The full creation of a Metis land base was undermined by systemic government delays and neglect.
The points that I have called for are not new. Indeed it is a fact that these very proposals sit before this government even as this government sits silent. These proposals from the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples offer a new dawn. This government chooses not to even have the dignity to respond to these solutions, but sits quiet.
The Metis are not asking for special status. They are not seeking some gift from the government, nor are they asking for anything but what is their historic and moral due. They want to be treated as the equals they are and negotiate with government as other natives negotiate.
But what is a people without a land base? If history has shown us and taught us anything, it is true that a land base with all the access to resources that accompany it is an absolute, uncontroversial precondition for nationhood. Where does this government stand on Metis nationhood?
Who are these people that Louis Riel led at one time? Is the government afraid to act because it has difficulty identifying just who among us are these Metis who deserve better treatment from this government?
The royal commission has made it easy for us. It recommends that every person who identifies himself or herself as Metis and is accepted as such by the nation of the Metis should be recognized by that nation.
While these negotiations go on, the government should work with the Metis and provincial and territorial governments to enter into temporary land use agreements with the Metis nation.
Just as no nation can exist without land, no nation can exist without language and culture. What of Metis education and culture?
Certainly as the motion indicates, Louis Riel played a crucial role in Metis culture. But this government has a responsibility to negotiate with the Metis full-fledged post-secondary education. Great care must be exercised to assure the development of Metis culture.
I strongly suggest should Louis Riel day come into force, the government use that day to examine the following issues laid out in the report by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, a report to which the government has yet to respond in any meaningful way.
First, consultation with Metis elders when educational programs are planned. Second, establishment and funding of Metis schools where numbers warrant. Third, assisted access to post-secondary education in some form. Finally, support for a college or faculty of Metis study.
The Metis are involved in every facet of our society and represent an enormously varied cross-section of Canada, whether economically, geographically, in terms of professions and education, and certainly in terms of hopes, dreams and support for family and community. What they do not have is support from this government for the preservation of their culture and traditions.
In closing, I would like to once again stress that this motion, as good as it may be, sets out in effect to pardon the federal government for its historical error and does not address the real, substantive and immediate issues crucial to the Metis today and to their children tomorrow.
However in true democratic spirit, we feel that the members of this House should decide on the merit of this motion and I would ask again that we have unanimous consent to have this motion voted on.