Mr. Speaker, it is a sad comment when first nations are forced to the court as their only recourse to have their voices heard.
In this case, Hupacasath has filed an injunction to stop ratification of the FIPA at the Federal Court level. This injunction is being supported by the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and the Chiefs of Ontario and the Serpentine River First Nations in Ontario.
In other omnibus legislation that was before the court, one of the first nations had filed an injunction to prevent the government from moving forward on the sections around navigable waters and some other changes that would directly impact on first nations.
In the case I cited earlier, the U.S. Department of Justice worked with first nations from Canada around a mining company's claim, and here we have the federal government continuing to not fulfill the honour of the Crown, its fiduciary responsibility for first nations, forcing first nations into court to stop the moving forward of agreements that could potentially impact on section 35 rights.