Mr. Speaker, let us put to the side this so-called barrier of saying there simply are not interpreters to fulfill the role we would require as Parliament, because that is not what the committee heard. That is not the testimony. It would be paternalistic to suggest to indigenous Canadians, “This is better for you. We don't want to hurt you by asking for more interpreters to be made available.” That would be ridiculous.
Let me go to this place, because this is my family's experience. I come from Irish heritage. My mother knows just a smattering of Gaelic, because her mother and her grandmother were unable to speak Gaelic at school or in their communities without being punished and beaten by the British governments who occupied their land at that time. My mother is able to pass to me a few Gaelic expressions, and that is it. That is the world view that I am able to express in such a small way. I feel so impoverished by that, because could it not have been better?
These are excuses. To say interpreters are unavailable or that this would cause harm to indigenous people somehow is not only wrong, but also, I would argue, paternalistic.