Madam Speaker, one of the things we have to understand is that the Mi'kmaq have been governing and policing themselves for a very long time. I have talked to the minister about this. We said that we would increase the police presence there. We have had this conversation.
With respect to the military, one of the things that Mi'kmaq leaders are quite afraid of is having an increased presence of military in that area. One of them jokingly said to me, “When they call in the cavalry, it is not usually good news for the Indians” or indigenous people.
We have to understand that there is systemic racism in all levels of government and while we want the RCMP and police keepers, what we really want to see is more Mi'kmaq police keepers, peacekeepers and RCMP people to help protect.