Mr. Speaker, I want to make very clear to the member my comments as they relate to water. We were moving to put in place the kinds of federal standards necessary to assure first nations citizens, at least in the jurisdiction that I work in, that their standards, regulations and quality of water will be the highest this country can offer. I can commit to the member today that he will very soon see the kinds of standards and the kind of quality necessary to assure ourselves that first nations people, like other Canadians when they take a drink from their tap, will be assured that they are drinking safe and healthy water.
I also want to say to the hon. member that one of the things I have found in my work as a member of Parliament over the last number of years is that unfortunately the standards did not include guaranteed certification of the operators that work in the water treatment plants. We have already moved in the last year and a half to train and certify all water treatment plant operators in first nations, with the objective of having them all certified within the next three years so that there will be no dispute as to the capacity and capability of first nations communities to assure their citizens of safe drinking water. That is in the works as we speak.
The other issue he speaks about is a fundamental discussion that has been going on in our country as long as I have been a member and, I am sure, for a lot longer than that. That is the unique and special relationship we have with aboriginal people. I think the country has gone by the debate that the member is wishing to have me comment about today, that is, under our Constitution we have already agreed and committed ourselves to recognizing aboriginal and treaty rights.
What that means in practical terms is that we accept that aboriginal people will have their own form of government, whether it is through the inherent right to self-government, under section 35 of our Constitution, where we will negotiate, or improvements under the changes that we are making through delegated authority, section 91(24) of the Constitution, which allows us to delegate authority to first nations of particular law-making powers. That is a debate that is ongoing today as to what kind of governance structures are necessary for first nations to be successful in building an economy.
As far as the question from my hon. colleague is concerned, as a Canadian society we have long been past that, past whether we are going to try to assimilate first nations into the general milieu of the country. We have already agreed that it does not work, that it is not appropriate and that we must have a respectful relationship, government to government. That is the direction in which we are heading.