Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend who has been a leader on this issue. He really hits a point that the committee has to grapple with. It is extremely troubling when people who are living afar have the ability to make decisions on the reserve for people on the reserve, when they have no physical connection or economic interest in the reserve and they are able to make decisions.
The second issue is the question of process, that Ms. Williams can actually have her land taken away from her. The question that would come to my mind is what recourse does she have, what recompense does she have, and what abilities does she have to plead her case if that is not of her will. We know that the Government of Canada can take away land from people under certain circumstances. What kinds of rules and regulations are there to protect the individual member of the Tsawwassen Band if their land is going to be appropriated.
I also want to say something about a study that has been done in Vancouver. I know members of the House will be very interested. It is called the CEDAR study. The CEDAR study looked at 500 aboriginal people living on the street who are IV drug abusers. The study found that half of those aboriginal people living on the street had been sexually abused and the median age of sexual abuse was six.
That has to rip at one's heart. Can we imagine that level of sexual abuse, the volume of sexual abuse, the age at which this is occurring, and the impact that it has on people? It makes one want to cry. That is the situation.
As an aside, I would like to mention that the Insite supervised injection site is up for renewal at the end of June. I would plead the case to the government that in light of the findings that we are seeing of what is behind some of the people who are living on the street and who are IV drug abusers, let Insite continue for as long as there is a demand and let other cities that want supervised injection sites have them. It is a matter of life and death. It is absolutely essential to save lives and save the lives of some of the most beaten up, impoverished and destitute people that we have in our society.