Mr. Speaker, imagine the surprise of first nations leaders to learn from the National Post that the Liberal government is fundamentally changing its policy toward aboriginal people. It says it wants to stop spending so much money on nuisance issues like rights and redress, land claim negotiations or access to resources. It has been the government's intransigence on these very issues that has led to a thousand outstanding land claims and expensive court cases.
What does the government hope to achieve by avoiding its obligations in this regard and by sidestepping the bilateral nation to nation process in dealing with first nations communities?