Mr. Speaker, I am truly amazed. The government has, in response to the motion brought forward by my hon. friend, a chance to do the right thing. It had an opportunity to do the right thing when this matter was before the committee. The committee adjourned at the insistence of the members of the government without dealing with the issue.
The Liberals have had an opportunity in the House today to respond to the specific motion that has been brought forward, which is a good motion. They have an opportunity to do the right thing by aboriginal Canadians who fought and served for this country in the last war and in the Korean War, aboriginal Canadians who have not received what they were entitled to receive under the law of Canada when they returned to this country.
Why will the government not do the right thing? Why will the government not respond in some meaningful way to these Canadians who have stepped forward and said that they were not treated fairly?
We have received documentation specifically with respect to the Métis National Council, the Manitoba Métis Federation and Mr. Chartrand, in the report, “To Walk With Dignity”. They found that less than 3% of the identified Métis veterans had received one of the three key programs under the Veterans Charter that they were entitled to receive, whether it was education, land or re-establishment grants. Why will the government not deal with this? Why will it not come to the table and respond?
Instead, we have a bureaucratic response, an offer to work in collaboration, an offer of partnership, an explanation that the Liberals are tied down and constrained by old files and the weaknesses of them and that they cannot do anything about this. We have a bureaucratic response something in the nature of the Métis delivery research output program, whatever that is. Why can the government not simply do the right thing and recognize that the hon. member has brought forward a motion where the House has an opportunity to say loudly and clearly that the right thing has not been done in the past?
I keep a copy of the throne speech in my desk. It said that the government and aboriginal people would work together to develop specific quality of life indicators and a report card to hold everybody to account and to drive progress. This is one matter, which posterity will report for the report card of the government that it had an opportunity to do the right thing and it did not do it.
Speaking on behalf of the members of this side of the House and on behalf of my friends elsewhere in the House, we are unanimous in this. The government has repeatedly had an opportunity to deal with this issue, to set Canadian history right, to do the equitable thing, to do the just thing, to respond to the request for recognition and fairness and it has refused to do so.
The last word I will say on this is that is the record before the House. Canadians in days ahead will have a chance to see that.