Mr. Speaker, in 1993, the present Prime Minister, then Minister of Indian Affairs, said the following in connection with the Lubicon Lake Cree Nation, “The Liberal Party understands your concern—. We support the swift resolution of all claims, and consider the Lubicon claim to be a priority”.
Members of this nation are still living in shacks with no running water and their community suffers from a dramatically high level of crime and multiple substance abuse.
Worse yet, the federal government has allowed the area of the Lake Lubicon Nation land claim to be occupied by super-polluting major oil companies. This has had disastrous effects on the health of those now living in the area.
The federal government has also allowed major forestry companies to clear cut the area, with disastrous effects on hunting, fishing and trapping grounds, to such an extent that the percentage of social assistance recipients in the community has risen from 10% in 1980 to 95% at the present time.
With all this, the United Nations has accused Ottawa of violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Mr. Prime Minister, keep your promise.