I am sorry, Mr. Speaker. I should have said the approach used by the member to not take any questions from the chiefs and assembly offended and disgusted his audience. The federation has sent a formal response letter to the Prime Minister's Office regarding the bill.
There was a third release in October expressing strong concerns with the bill. I will not read that out again, but strong concerns with the process followed.
I will share the words of the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. He has expressed concern:
Federal attempts to repair the much-hated Indian Act are not going to work because First Nations have not been involved in designing the way forward.
He then said:
...Ottawa has taken a piecemeal approach to First Nations reform—fiddling with education here, clean drinking water there—without tackling the fundamental problem of aboriginal treaties and rights not being respected.
He was quoted on Friday saying, “You've got to do them at the same time. They are one piece”.
I commend the member for coming forward and trying to spur changes in this avenue but. regrettably, there does not appear to have been sufficient prior consultation and, therefore, we cannot support the bill.