Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today to present pursuant to Standing Order 36 a very substantial petition signed by thousands of first nations citizens in the province of Manitoba. These signatories reject the first nations' governance initiative as proposed by the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development because they maintain that it is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to diminish or even extinguish their treaty rights.
The petitioners point out further that the minister's so-called consultation process has been a sham. They urge all members of parliament to scrap the first nations' governance initiative and replace it with a mutually acceptable piece of legislation that actually addresses the many pressing and urgent issues that they outline in their petition.
Finally, these citizens serve notice that this is the first of many such petitions that will in fact outnumber against the first nations' governance initiative any who have indicated support for the initiative.