Mr. Speaker, the member is absolutely correct. When I started my speech, I talked about the government-to-government relationship. Back in January at the Crown-first nations gathering, the Prime Minister indicated there would be a change in that relationship and people quite optimistically thought that perhaps there was going to be an improvement in that relationship, that the government would consult in a meaningful way before it brought forward legislation.
Consultation is a very complex matter, and a number of tests must be in place in order to ensure that the requirements around the duty to consult are met. Consultation does not just mean going out and gathering information and then coming back and going behind closed doors and developing a bill that does not reflect what was heard from first nations across this country. We have seen that in a number of other bills. Matrimonial real property is an excellent example.
Consultation needs to be a closed loop. Resources and information and context need to be provided. We need to make sure first nations have the ability to engage, that there is enough time for them to engage in that process. There are going to be challenges when all of the information is gathered, because we are talking about nation-to-nation and governments. They are not all going to agree with the outcome of it, so then we need to figure out a process about how to take these disparate views and come up with a consensus position. Then when the legislation is being drafted, first nations need to be included. That would constitute a consultation process, and that has not happened with respect to this legislation.