Madam Speaker, that question was not to the Reform Party, it was to the member for Vancouver Island North. We recognize existing aboriginal rights as defined by section 35 of the constitution. We are quite aware of that. No one would argue the case.
We are aware of the judgments that have occurred in the supreme court. We are also aware of the myths that are propagated by the federal and provincial governments as to what constitutes the decision making by those courts and the spin that is put on those decision. The aboriginal entitlement, the modest compensation that has been put forward consistently by the Supreme Court of Canada, is far different from what is reflected in agreements such as the Nisga'a agreement.
I will point out to the member who posed the question that his very own government has supported a variety of agreements. In British Columbia we have, for example, the Sechelt Indian government, which has been in effect since 1985 or 1986. It is a municipal style government. I have no difficulty at all in endorsing the Sechelt agreement. It very much represents the rank and file members of that band, with all of the accountability and democracy very much in evidence.
Only the Liberal Party in this place would suggest, as the member did, that we can achieve equality by not treating everyone equally. I find this to be something I philosophically cannot buy into. We should in every way be attempting to move people together not split them farther apart. I think that is what divides the official opposition from the government on this issue.