Madam Speaker, I do not believe that the parliamentary secretary actually heard the question.
The question was this: is the position of the government to treat the constitutional rights of first nations with the type of disrespect shown in that internal memo?
How can we believe that the Conservatives are willing to work in partnership with first nations when they qualify them, in that very document, as “adversaries”—after the Crown-First Nations Gathering, after the timeliness of the budget implementation act debate today, of which the national chief has been so critical?
Again, the government does not seem to understand, in the budget implementation, that it is bound by the Constitution to uphold its duty to consult, which means it cannot unilaterally reduce these duties through changes to existing legislation.
It is extraordinarily important that the treaties be honoured and that the government treat the governments of first nations as government to government.
Will the parliamentary secretary apologize today for the disgraceful words used by his government to characterize first nations as “adversaries”?