Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to make a few brief remarks on Bill C-6 and on its principle. I believe others from my party will eventually make some remarks on the bill, if they have not already done so, and speak to the principle of the bill.
I make my remarks on behalf of my colleague, the member for South Shore, the Conservative critic for Indian affairs and northern development. I also make them as one who over the years has watched from a distance. Quite frankly I was amazed at the length of time it often takes for the valid aspirations of aboriginal people to be satisfied by government.
I am thankful the aboriginal leadership of the Mackenzie Valley has been so very patient over the decades with what has surely been an endless round of negotiations with government officials.
I am told this is no ordinary bill. It represents a principle that is so laudable and so welcomed that Canadians should be thankful it has arrived after so many years of toing and froing.
Hon. members may know that the bill represents a conclusion of sorts to the precedent setting litigation and negotiations of aboriginal title claims in the Northwest Territories. Perhaps some people will remember that the native peoples up there were faced with what some saw as the stark reality of a huge development project showing up on their doorsteps without any input from them.
Essentially there were and there remain concerns about a disruption of a way of life, a disruption of the lands and the waters. For anyone who knows anything about aboriginal people and the north generally, for people up there life is land and water.
One of the most remarkable features of the Northwest Territories is the Mackenzie Valley. It is one of the world's longest valleys. It is hard to imagine a river at 4,241 kilometres and a huge valley. It needs to be respected. I am only learning lately the history of the matter. Perhaps it would be useful to cite some of the history respecting that wonderful, great area.
On April 2, 1973 some 16 bands filed a caveat in the lands title office in Yellowknife claiming aboriginal rights to almost half the land in the Northwest Territories. The effect of the caveat would have been to make any future land grants in the area subject to the claim of the Indians if it were subsequently found that they had a valid, legal interest in the land.
There were hearings and an interim judgment was handed down from the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories which upheld the caveat saying that there was enough doubt as to whether the full aboriginal title had been extinguished, certainly in the minds of the Indians, to justify the caveat's attempt to protect the Indians' position until a final adjudication could be made and could be obtained.
The federal government appealed and that hearing, I am told, was to take place before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories in June 1975.
Meanwhile behind the scenes the aboriginal leadership negotiated successfully with the then minister of Indian affairs to engage in preliminary discussions to develop the groundwork for a comprehensive settlement of Indian claims in the Northwest Territories.
Essentially the aboriginal leadership pushed the idea of fairness, not a radical idea at all. They were adamant that a settlement of native claims must precede the pipeline or any other major development projects. That brings us to the present day.
I am told the bill was developed by a co-ordinating group comprised of representatives of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, the Northwest Territories, government representatives, tribal councils and the Department of Justice. We are all hopeful that the many years of dialogue might have borne fruit.
My party is in favour of transferring responsibility and power to the local level and sharing management and development duties. The joint boards the bill will establish are in principle a good idea. My colleague, the member for South Shore, will be speaking on this matter and giving it closer examination.
The bill is intended to implement obligations under land claims signed five years ago as well as in September 1993. In 1992 a settlement of a comprehensive land claim was made that provided 22,422 square kilometres of land in the northwestern portion of the Northwest Territories and 1,554 square kilometres of land in Yukon.
Subsurface rights; a share in the resource royalties derived from the valley; tax free capital transfers; hunting rights; a greater role in the management of wildlife, land and the environment; and the right of first refusal on a variety of activities related to wildlife are very good things. If they represent a principle it would be one related to good government.
I am sure the current minister would recognize the efforts and success of the previous Conservative government in establishing an excellent partnership.
The bill before us today provides for the establishment of management boards to co-ordinate environmental assessment and land and water regulations in the Mackenzie Valley.
People often think of the north or the Mackenzie Valley as barren wasteland. On the contrary, it is and has been home to Inuit and Dene for 10,000 years. Martin Frobisher's expedition back in the 1570s were the first recorded visits to the Northwest Territories by an outsider.
I hope the bill will go some way to ensure, with all the land and the wealth potential to be found under the surface of the land and water in the Mackenzie Valley, that outsiders respect the land, respect the water and respect the people. Let us call them the insiders of the Mackenzie Valley.
I am sure my colleague, the member for South Shore, will be making further comments on the bill in due course.