Mr. Speaker, we should ask the aboriginal people what they want and need. We must work with them to ensure their needs are met.
Grassroots aboriginal people living on and off reserve have told me that we should scrap the Indian Act. Why on earth should they be encumbered by a 132-year-old act that puts all manner of obstacles in front of them? That is immoral.
I cannot believe that in the 21st century we have an Indian Act that treats people entirely different, wraps an anchor around their ankles and tells them to move forward, engage in development, have health care, social programs, education and economic development but they cannot do that. If we were to have a non-aboriginal act parallel to the Indian Act, we would be destitute. We would have the same problems that aboriginal people are facing because we would be labouring under the same conditions.
We need to remove those shackles and liberate aboriginal people by working with them.