Mr. Speaker, I have listened with care today to the member for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca.
I want to ask him questions in two areas. The first concerns his suggestion that this is an agreement that does not respect the rights of the Nisga'a people themselves. I believe that he said that the concerns of the grassroots Nisga'a people were being ignored in this particular process. He talked about control from the top of the Nisga'a leadership.
Perhaps the hon. member is not aware of the fact that there was a vote among the Nisga'a people themselves. I want to remind the hon. member of that. There was a democratic vote among the Nisga'a people to ratify this particular treaty and 71% of those grassroots Nisga'a people voted in support of this treaty.
How on earth can the member suggest that this treaty does not have the support of the grassroots Nisga'a people when they overwhelmingly voted in favour of it? I suspect that the hon. member himself got something less than 71% of the vote in the last federal election. Is he suggesting that somehow his mandate was illegitimate because he did not get 71% of the vote? I ask him that question.
My second very brief question is this. The member understands better than most members of the House the evils of apartheid in South Africa. How could he possibly compare that to the ratification of this Nisga'a treaty, which is supported overwhelmingly by the Nisga'a people and the Nisga'a leadership, which will lead to a sense of pride and self-respect? How could he so degrade and pervert history as to suggest that this has anything to do with apartheid whatsoever?