Mr. Chair, in Canada we have a Constitution that recognizes a number of indigenous rights. This is something which is, for the most part, unparalleled in the world. This is one of the biggest reasons that we felt, in relation to article 26 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, we would not be able to fulfill our obligations to it, because we have these rights already built into our Constitution and we do not want to unravel that.
In the House of Commons on May 29th, 2008. See this statement in context.