Madam Speaker, the Indian Act is a blot on Canada's history.
I agree that it needs to be repealed. However, I think that we need to be aware that the Indian Act provides a certain security for many first nations people. We will need to sit down with indigenous communities to give them the means, powers and economic tools for self-determination so that they can do even more than is possible under the Indian Act.
Truth and reconciliation is a matter of trust. In the past, Canada proved to first nations that it could not be trusted. We have to rebuild that trust, but unfortunately the Liberal government has failed in that respect. Relations with first nations is one of the first issues on which the Trudeau government lost Canadians' confidence.