Mr. Speaker, I have been here at least as long as the parliamentary secretary. I was the aboriginal affairs critic from 1994 to 1997 and again the last couple of years prior to my re-posting in this new Parliament. In that role we dealt with many of these agreements in the north. We dealt with the Nisga'a agreement, the Westbank agreement, the First Nations Land Management Act and taxation authority in various guises and forms.
Prior to this legislation, the House has never before handled one of these self-government or land claims bills in the fashion where it was an all or nothing swallow it whole, way. To suggest that Nisga'a was done in that way is not correct. We had vote after vote on amendment to the Nisga'a agreement in the House. That was done through a completely different process.
The member either has forgotten or does not know from whence she speaks. To somehow suggest that this is the only way to approach this kind of agreement, contradicts the facts. This is never how we have approached these agreements before. I hope it is never how we approach these agreements in the future. It is in the best interest of the government not to approach them in this way because it will end up wearing it, if there is a need in the future to amend it.
The government has failed to see what should have been seen. We are the most important check and balance on ensuring that it occurs. We are 308 members from across the country.