[Member spoke in Gitxsan as follows:]
Simgiget, Sigid'm hanals, k'uba wilkxws.
[Gitxsan text translated as follows:]
Chiefs, matriarchs and community members.
[Member spoke in Witsuwit'en as follows:]
Dinize, tsakoze, skyze.
[Witsuwit'en text translated as follows:]
Chiefs, matriarchs and community members.
[English]
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the landmark Delgamuukw-Gisday'wa court ruling, and to pay tribute to the strength and tenacity of the Gitxsan and Wet'suwet'en.
With Delgamuukw, these two nations changed the legal landscape in Canada forever and blazed a trail that so many have since followed. For the first time, our highest court said that oral histories can be evidence and that aboriginal title in Canada has never been extinguished by colonization.
Mishandling of the original trial left Chief Justice Lamer unable to affirm title on appeal, so he implored Canada to do the hard work of negotiating in good faith. Twenty-five years later, so much of this work remains to be done.
For their part, the Gitxsan and Wet'suwet'en remain determined to realize the full potential of their rights and title. As the late Earl Muldoe, who held the name Delgamuukw, stated in 1997, “If you take a bucket of water out of the Skeena River, the Skeena keeps on flowing. Our rights still flow and they will flow forever.”