Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to note that this government and the government before it deferred to the Supreme Court of Canada every time. When the Supreme Court of Canada comes out with a ruling we know that the government will not have the backbone to use the notwithstanding clause or to take firm action to protect individual rights.
In this instance we are not asking the Supreme Court of Canada to chart us into uncharted territory in terms of social policy or anything else, which is our primary concern with the courts. We are asking it for a judicial interpretation of the charter of rights vis-à-vis the collective aboriginal rights the Nisga'a people will have in advance of this treaty being implemented. Then the Nisga'a people and other Canadians will know how the Supreme Court of Canada views that potential conflict. No doubt there will be conflict. We would like to know now and we think it is the responsible thing to do.
We would also like to have the supreme court's interpretation of whether this is even a constitutional agreement. There are four separate legal challenges in British Columbia right now. Three of them speak to the very heart of the issue of whether or not this agreement is even constitutional. How can the government be responsible and proceed until it has the supreme court's ruling on that very critical issue?