Mr. Speaker, I rise today on a question that comes from question period about 10 days ago. At that time I asked the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development about a situation with respect to the Nisga'a agreement.
Essentially, there are several questions that we think need to be addressed in advance of Nisga'a ratification legislation. One of the very serious issues that needs to be addressed is the whole issue of overlap.
As the parliamentary secretary is aware, the Gitanyow and the Gitksan bands—the Gitanyow is actually a part of the Gitksan—are claiming that about 84% of the land that the Nisga'a will control after the ratification of the Nisga'a agreement is actually their traditional land.
They have written a book about it. They advance a very strong case. As to whether it is accurate or not is a matter of some debate, but the fact remains that they have advanced a very strong case.
Subsequent to that and subsequent to me asking the minister, they travelled to Ottawa to meet with various members of parliament from different parties to talk about their concerns. Essentially, they are saying that they do not want the ratification of this agreement to proceed until such time as this overlap issue is dealt with.
I cannot understand for the life of me why the minister responded to my question by saying that negotiations are ongoing and they are confident that they are going to have an agreement when the Gitanyow and the Gitksan people are telling us that nothing could be further from the truth. They are not even talking at this point in time. There are no negotiations going on. There is nobody listening to their side of the story. They feel very much like the minister and the department are taking one side on this issue, and they feel that is very unfair.
They have intimated to us that if ratification proceeds in advance of this very serious question being addressed, then the result likely will be a great deal of uncertainty and chaos in the future because they will be proceeding with a court case, challenging the Nisga'a agreement and challenging the federal government in its breach of fiduciary obligation if in fact this agreement is ratified. If they are successful in their court challenge, who knows what the landscape might look like down the road.
I again ask the parliamentary secretary to explain, not only to this side of the House, but also to the Gitksan and the Gitanyow people, who are watching this on their televisions at home, why it is that the federal government appears to be taking a side in this dispute and why it is prepared to proceed with ratification of this very precedent setting, groundbreaking treaty in British Columbia without first resolving these disputes. I might add that it is not a matter of a small overlap because 84% of the land that the Nisga'a will end up controlling after the agreement is ratified is claimed by the Gitksan.
Maybe the parliamentary secretary could answer those questions for the people in my riding who are very concerned about this issue and who would like to have the answer.