Madam Speaker, in the work I have done with first nations people, I have become sensitive to customs and traditions, and sometimes it is hard to understand from my Anglo Saxon background.
I met with one group of aboriginal women elders. They said that in their home community women are not even allowed to run for chief and council. A number of us shook our heads and said that was shameful. Then one woman said that men are not allowed to vote. In some way over thousands of years in their community they had managed to work out a balance of power situation that worked for them that may not seem suitable to us.
In this situation, I point out that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms continues to apply. No one is undermining the basic human rights which we afford to all citizens. I can accept the hon. member's right to raise these objections. We will deal with it at committee in more depth when we do a clause by clause, line by line analysis of the bill.
I listened to the hon. member's speech. Both its tone and content would lead one to believe that the Conservative Party is opposed to the Tlicho agreement on the basis that it gives away too much.