Mr. Speaker, the opposition seems to have a theme today, which I think is insulting to the Federation of Newfoundland Indians. The argument from the opposition is that somehow the government has made a debacle of this thing.
This is an agreement that we made with the Federation of Newfoundland Indians. I know it is a matter of principle for them to make that argument; however, the opposition is being quite insulting to the Federation of Newfoundland Indians, which is a full partner in this process and has agreed with us on every step we have taken to ensure the integrity of that process.
On all of the cases mentioned by the hon. member, the Government of Canada has a legal duty to protect status Indians and to carefully evaluate any applications. We will take all of those on a case-by-case basis.