Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to speak today on the Senate amendment to Bill C-33. I shall not speak very long. As hon. members are aware, my party's critic, the member for Charlesbourg—Jacques-Cartier, is quite knowledgeable on this matter. I shall limit myself to a few remarks on the government's motion.
It must be said immediately that we are in favour of Bill C-33. I need not remind hon. members that the Nunavut Surface Rights Tribunal Act, which we have recently supported, provides more self-sufficiency to the communities. We believe it is a step in the right direction and we supported it unconditionally.
Overall, Bill C-33 represents the implementation of certain elements of the Nunavut land claims agreement concluded between the Inuit of Nunavut and Her Majesty in right of Canada. The bill before the House at this time therefore brings to completion the last aspects of this historic agreement. Let us keep in mind that this bill was passed by the House of Commons last November and has stagnated with the Senate every since.
We realize what the workload of our colleagues in the other place is, but is it acceptable for this bill to stagnate, to remain dormant, if I may use that term, for six months in the other place, just so that this legislation, which will empower the communities, can be implemented?
I have trouble understanding why, after six months, the only recommendation the other place can come up with is to take seven lines out of the bill. Worse yet, the proposed amendment does not even concern the body of the bill, but rather the preliminary definitions and the mechanisms for application of this legislative measure.
I could go on and on about the role of the senators and the legislative process, but I will spare the House this needless suffering, which would be boring to them as well. The amendment to Bill C-33 proposed by the Senate consists in deleting from application of this new legislation a fundamental provision relating to the negotiations that in fact led to the conclusion of the and claims agreement between the government and the Inuit of Nunavut.
In the treaty providing the framework for the agreement, which was ratified and implemented on July 9, 1993 by the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, care was taken to specify the scope of the agreement and the fact that it did not take precedence over prior legislation.
Clause 3(3) of Bill C-33 is consistent with the spirit of the 1993 legislation. However, the Senate is trying to remove this important aspect, the product of years' of negotiations leading to the accord and now, all of a sudden, for no apparent reason, the Senate wants to strike them from the treaty implementation act, which is the final stage of this effort that has lasted so many years.
We find this situation unusual, and rather embarrassing for an institution such as the Senate, which has had to deal with serious credibility issues. Not only do senators want to undo twenty years of work, but their changes do not even appear to make any sense.
It is unfortunate that the House is required to waste precious time pondering an issue that is as useless as the Senate itself, rather than spending this time to further the cause of first nations.
The Bloc Quebecois has made good relations with aboriginal peoples a cornerstone of our political program and campaign platform. Like the government of Quebec, we firmly believe, and reiterate this today, that there must be harmonious relations with first nations, as demonstrated by the recent nation to nation agreements that have been concluded with the Cree and the Inuit.
We are determined to work together with the government to respond promptly to the governance wishes of the Inuit from Nunavut. However, the Bloc Quebecois is strongly opposed to the motion presented by the Senate, and we will be voting against the motion.
In closing, I would invite my colleagues from the other parties to consider this carefully and to carefully weigh the pros and cons of such an amendment. To finish, I would like to add that it is unfortunate that this bill was held up in the Senate for six months only to come up with this provision, when we could have accelerated the pace and the process to provide more governance and more autonomy to communities.