Mr. Speaker, I am actually quite pleased with the way today has worked out. I have the opportunity to speak to the motion from my hon. colleague for the Bloc. As someone who has had the opportunity to have three private members' motions before the House and to actually have a couple that were votable, I am pleased to have the chance to speak to the motion and recognize that private members bring specific issues, motions and bills to the House that never come from the government unless it is real push to do so. Government members bring them in as well because they know that is the only way some issues will ever be addressed.
When I was growing up and attending school, and I did finish high school, I was an excellent history student because I loved learning about Canada and Britain. I have to tell members that most of the history I learned about was Britain and a little bit about the U.S. Our books contained very little Canadian history. We learned mostly about colonial governments.
Although some Canadian history came into play, I found that as an adult with children in school that the Canadian history I had been taught was not accurate. My children were receiving the accurate history on events such as the Northwest Rebellion and Louis Riel. I had never been taught that Louis Riel was an elected legislative representative that the Government of Canada just did not like.
Having talked to my colleague for Acadie—Bathurst, I now know that the Acadians had their land taken away from them in much the same way as the land was taken away from the people in the Red River Valley and in areas of Saskatchewan. The government wanted the properties because it wanted the best lands. I do not think there is any question that there was a degree of racial motivation. It was a different culture, the languages were different and the English-French thing was going on even then. However the bottom line was that the government wanted the land and whatever it wanted it took. It felt it could treat that group of citizens badly because it could do anything it wanted to do.
However we cannot change history no matter how much my hon. colleague from across the way would like to. The hon. member who brought forth the motion wants the government to recognize that Louis Riel was mistreated and unfairly tried and convicted of treason, and he wants Louis Riel exonerated.
I know we cannot change history but we can recognize that wrongs were done and officially recognize them as such so that the people who were affected have the opportunity to heal. When one family or a group of people are treated badly and severely hurt, as were the Acadians, it is passed down from generation to generation. Many Acadians died and many never saw their families again. We might not hear about it every day, every month or every week but it is passed down from generation to generation. It is never allowed any healing or forgiveness.
When the Government of Canada refuses to officially recognize that the Acadian people were wronged what does that say about us? My colleague from across the way knows that it is important that Louis Riel be exonerated. He knows that.
How can he not see that it is extremely important that the Acadian people be officially recognized as having been wronged? Can there be any doubt in anyone's mind?
We do not all in our lives have time to read everything, see everything on the Internet or study every subject. We try to learn as much as we can but always in our lives we can continue learning. In a matter of minutes today numerous bits of information were pulled off the Internet for additional background on the subject. I urge Canadians to make a point of going online and finding information on le grand dérangement, the Acadian expulsion and deportation.
It was recorded in one of the newspapers of the time that:
We are now upon a great and noble scheme of sending the neutral French out of the Province who have always been secret enemies and have encouraged our savages to cut our throats. If we effect their expulsion it will be one of the greatest things that ever did the English in America.
The article went on to say “for by all accounts that part of the country they possess is as good a land as any in the world. We could get some for good English farmers”.
Is there no shame on the other side of the House that a whole group of citizens of Canada were treated badly? Do those members have no shame at all? What they should do is officially recognize that they were wrong.
I will touch on comments that have been made in the last week or so by ministers from the government. People have seen the comments as indicating that maybe the church was responsible or did not do much and should have done more. They suggest that if families really wanted to maintain their Acadian culture they should have been responsible for doing so.
I represent a riding with 32 first nations and have been to all those communities. No one knows more than I do, except for the people themselves, the suffering aboriginal people have gone through because of their treatment by the Government of Canada.
I refer specifically to the Dene people. The government decided, my gosh, not in 1745 but in 1955, to move a whole group of people and leave them to live off a garbage dump in Churchill, Manitoba. Is there any shame from the government about it? There is not a chance. Those people are struggling today to find their way.
The government has a history of doing things wrong. We cannot change history but we can acknowledge the mistakes and apologize for them. We must recognize officially that the way the Acadian people were treated was wrong. It was wrong to treat the Dene people like that. It was wrong to treat aboriginal people the way they have been treated over the years.
This is private member's business. It is not government legislation that would put the government under should it happen to pass. I encourage members in the House to take a stand and say that this needs to be acknowledged. It is absolutely unacceptable that the government would put pressure on members in the House to vote against this simply because the government has something against Quebec and the Bloc. This is not a Bloc issue. It is an issue of justice for a group of citizens within Canada. It is totally unacceptable to make it an issue between the Bloc and the Liberals. I hope members in the House do not fall into that trap.