Madam Speaker, I do not think it gets us to a solution to be stating absolutely that this problem cannot be solved because aboriginal and non-aboriginal fishers in Atlantic Canada do not have trust in the minister.
It is absolutely true that fishers need to be able to build trust in the minister. They are shaken by the fact that it was not just this minister who has been very absent and in fact stayed completely out of the arena when there was an urgent need for immediate leadership in the aftermath of the Marshall decision. However, I think they are badly shaken by the fact that the federal government and the Conservative government before it showed so little respect for the issue of treaty rights that they basically were forcing people into the courts, turning their backs on the important principle laid out in the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples that we need to adopt an approach that says we negotiate, not litigate, these matters.
There is a long legacy of this government and the previous government, not just the current minister, not showing appropriate respect for aboriginal Canadians, who now, understandably, want their fair share of the Atlantic fishery.