Mr. Speaker, I absolutely agree, and I thank my colleague, the member for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, who is a true leader in the fight for aboriginal rights across the country.
I want to echo his message that we will not be intimidated by threats or accusations by anyone in this House or outside. Our words will not be twisted to mean something they do not mean.
We are here as New Democrats to put forward the concerns we have heard from first nations, whether from Quebec or Labrador, Manitoba or Saskatchewan, or wherever, when they are saying they were not consulted, and that is not okay. In large part, because of that, they are opposed to the first nations education act.
It is called “democracy”. We are here to raise our voices to convey that message. If the federal government chooses to use threats and accusations and change the rhetoric, Canadians will judge for themselves. First nations and all Canadians deserve better than the kind of attitude we are seeing from the current federal government.