Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the remarks of my hon. colleague and his inquiry about the whole issue of how the legislation would impact on areas that cover 40% of the geography of Canada and the role that different individuals have played.
Over nine years there have been many people involved. I think of the late Mr. Jim Bourque, one of the best wildlife officers we had in the Northwest Territories who later sat on some of the free trade and export boards because of his expertise. Mr. Bourque was a reflection of many individuals, including my former colleague, Mr. Anawak, and Willie Littlechild, who was a Conservative member from the other side, and others as well.
Many leaders who were not members of parliament had some influence on the process that contributed to it. Two points were always raised: first, there had to be some kind of instrument for representation of aboriginal people, the working group is a reflection of that; and second, the traditional knowledge had to be incorporated. Even if we talked to people on the round table on the environment and the economy, the sustainable development committees, they always referred to traditional knowledge and the importance of place.
This would be vacuous legislation if it did not include a provision for those two things, so there is a lot of gratitude for many of the individuals who have their expertise on polar bear. Canada along with the Northwest Territories has many conventions, including one on polar bears and one on migratory birds. Canada is not new at this. We are good at this. We have a track record to show we are proven conservationists. We are natural at that. We live with habitat that is plentiful, unlike other countries in the world that do not have many of the species we do.
I thank my colleague for his comments. I also thank those individuals out there who will not get the kind of accolades they deserve. I think these are two important elements. I think all those individuals should be thanked. I also want to thank the member for Kitchener Centre for her work. She has done an outstanding job. It has been a perilous road on this bill.