Madam Speaker, I am honoured to speak in the House today on what is truly a very historic occasion, the first day of debate on the Nisga'a treaty.
I thank my colleague, the hon. member for Yukon, for her very thoughtful comments, particularly as they relate to the international situation concerning aboriginal land and what has taken place in other jurisdictions. She has shown us, in a very thoughtful way, that what is happening here in Canada is very much in context with what is taking place in other parts of the world.
As a person from British Columbia, I must say that the work, endurance and patience of the Nisga'a leadership and the Nisga'a people has really been outstanding. They have been negotiating the treaty for more than 20 years. For more than 100 years, they have been moving through a process, sometimes with huge conflict and huge oppression, to get to get to this point today. The leadership that has been shown and the support that has come from the grassroots of the Nisga'a people is something that really makes this a historic occasion.
I want to begin my remarks by quoting Nisga'a Tribal Council president Joseph Gosnell. Yesterday as he arrived in Ottawa he called on the Reform Party leader to ensure that the members of the Reform Party caucus stopped making incorrect allegations about the Nisga'a treaty which is currently before parliament. I thought it was very significant that the tribal council president was making this statement:
We understand that the role of the official opposition is to oppose government initiatives—
That is part of our democratic tradition. He continued:
—and we have no fear of a genuine debate in parliament. However we also believe that it is the responsibility of all members of parliament to provide accurate information, and not to attack the Nisga'a treaty on the basis of allegations that are just not accurate.
I wanted to read that into the record because I had hoped that on the opening day of debate of this historic treaty that it would be an honourable debate, that it would be a debate where yes, there would be criticisms and there would be issues, but it would be a debate based on facts and real information.
Instead, the leader of the Reform Party, the Leader of the Opposition, chose not to listen to the wise words of the Nisga'a Tribal Council president. What he and the hon. member for Skeena, the Reform Party spokesperson on aboriginal issues, chose to do less than an hour ago was to continue their campaign of misinformation and allegations of grossly inaccurate information. They chose to continue a campaign of fearmongering and divisiveness within the community.
I want to say shame on the members of the Reform Party for doing that. Shame on them for not sticking to the facts and having an honourable debate in the House. What they chose to do today is really a contempt of this process and of parliament. I wish it had not happened that way, but that is the way it seems to be going.
It is one thing to debate and have an intelligent criticism, but it is something quite different to deliberately manufacture and peddle misinformation and completely false allegations about this treaty.
I would like to go over a couple of things that were said this morning by the Leader of the Opposition. First, he said that it was their sole interest to establish a new and better relationship with the aboriginal community, among the aboriginal community. Then he went on to say that it is not in the long range interests of the Nisga'a people to have this treaty. This was repeated by the hon. member for Skeena.
Then the Leader of the Opposition characterized the treaty as being a perpetuation of a 19th century approach. I would say that it is the Indian Act that is the case and the experience of a separate law for separate people.