Mr. Speaker, last week the Prime Minister claimed that in Canada we have no history of colonialism.
Canada in fact has a history of dispossessing aboriginal peoples of land and resources. We have a history of denying public services most Canadians take for granted. We have a history of using aboriginal people, such as in the high Arctic relocation. And Canada has a history of assimilation, of denigrating aboriginal spirituality, language and culture.
We may never have had an empire, but it is historical revisionism to deny Canada's own form of colonialism. It denies decades of progress that first nations, Inuit and Métis peoples have made. It frustrates efforts to build on that progress. It undermines the historic residential schools apology.
Our party has acknowledged that history. Aboriginal peoples have lived this history.
The Prime Minister should stop denying reality, live in the truth and work honestly with all aboriginal people for a better tomorrow.