Madam Speaker, that is such a profound question. It seems remarkable that we even have to ask that question. In Canada's Parliament what does the rule of law mean? It is a valid question because we see governments not abiding by it all the time. Why do first nations win in court over and over again? Because the government of the day does not respect the rule of law and it loses on section 35 challenges time and again.
Some historical context is important in this case. When this pipeline was first built, first nations peoples were barred from even hiring a lawyer, never mind them not having the right to vote. That is how old this pipeline is, yet all these years later, we are somehow still debating the same thing. Do aboriginal people have a right to have the rule of law respected by the Canadian government?
We use the term “the honour of the crown”. I do not know if we can actually use it anymore. It has been so dishonoured for so long, time and again. The worse type of dishonouring is when a government is hypocritical and pretends to believe in rights and title and then acts in the opposite way. That does the greatest dishonour, not to just the current government but to this very place and institution.