Mr. Speaker, again I rise to speak to the report stage of Bill C-9. I want to inform all members of the House and members of the public who may be watching this at home that I was part of the standing committee that recently travelled to British Columbia for a five day dog and pony show at which time we heard from a selected group of witnesses that were concocted primarily by the Liberals. British Columbians were denied and shut out of the process. They were unable to appear and provide their deeply held views on the Nisga'a treaty. That has been the problem with this treaty right from 1991 when the secrecy agreement between the three parties was signed that led into the process that brings us to this debate today.
In response to that cynical, arrogant move on the part of the government and the other opposition parties in collusion with one another, the Reform Party held its own meeting in Vancouver last Friday to which we invited all members of the public and anybody who had been denied an opportunity to speak at the standing committee so they could speak to us. We had a court reporter there. We put on the record the comments, remarks and observations that were made. My colleagues over the next hours and days in debate on the Nisga'a treaty will endeavour to read as much of that into the record as possible.
I wanted to say that at the outset so there would be some context to the amendments proposed by the Reform Party in this group and in the groups to follow. The main reason the Reform Party has tabled these amendments is that we are looking for some change to the agreement. We are primarily looking to decouple the self-government provisions in the agreement from constitutional protection.
In other words, we are saying that we do not think this parliament should be so arrogant and so self assured that it would know for all time what is good for the Nisga'a people, that it would entrench a third order of government and provide it constitutional protection under section 35 so that it can never be changed and will be there for all time. For years we have said that is a major flaw in this agreement and that needs to be changed. We are saying not only for the benefit of a united Canada, a Canada that works together and stays together, but we are also saying for the benefit of Nisga'a people themselves that is not the right way to go.
Incidentally, we heard that from an untold number of British Columbians over the last few weeks. We heard it at the standing committee. Even the Liberal standing committee dog and pony show heard that from a number of witnesses. As my colleague from Fraser Valley pointed out, professor Stephen Scott from McGill University, a widely recognized expert on law and constitutional matters in this country has said the same thing, as has Gordon Gibson, as has Mel Smith, as has Tom Flanagan, and the list goes on and on. These are names that are recognizable by many Canadians as being relatively expert in their fields.
As my colleague pointed out and as is the thrust of one amendment we have asked the Speaker to consider, we say that the treaty must be appended to the legislation. That did not come from the Reform Party. That came from the witnesses. The whole point of having a standing committee, the whole point of inviting expert witnesses to appear, because certainly we in this place are not experts, is to consider the advice that they provide us and then to incorporate that advice into the legislation we are dealing with. Here we have a pre-eminent legal scholar, professor of law at McGill University, who tells us in no uncertain terms that not only is it a mistake for parliament not to append the treaty to the legislation but that no member in the House should vote for Bill C-9 until and unless that is done. My colleague so eloquently quoted the professor there is no need for me to do that again.
The bottom line of what we are saying is that from the Reform Party's point of view, while we disagree with the treaty in many aspects, the most serious and fundamental flaws include the fact that the self-government provisions receive constitutional protection. That is the subject of at least two lawsuits right now in British Columbia. It is the subject of most of the concern that is coming out of British Columbia. That should be removed from the agreement and an addition to the legislation should be included which would say that the self-government provisions as delineated in chapter 11 of the agreement would not constitute an aboriginal or treaty right within the meaning of section 35 of the Canadian constitution. It would be that simple. We are saying that the treaty should be appended to the legislation.
We were told by a pre-eminent legal professor in Ontario that was the right thing for parliament to do. Regardless of whether or not we support the treaty in principle, that is the only right way to proceed from a procedural point of view.
Third, the Reform Party wants the removal of the commercial right to harvest fish from constitutional protection. We know the government wants to leave it in there. We know the Nisga'a want to leave it in there. We do not agree with it. We think it is wrongheaded. We think in the end it will not be of benefit to Nisga'a people. It will be contentious. It will be divisive in British Columbia.
We are saying that at least the constitutional protection should be removed from that part of the treaty. We should not create in effect a constitutionally protected business in the country. Nobody else in Canada has the right to a constitutionally protected business and it should not be created in this treaty.
Fourth, it is irresponsible for the government to proceed with ratification. The Reform Party could never in any way endorse or support any move to allow the bill to proceed until and unless the government sits down with the Gitksan and the Gitanyow people in an honourable way and comes to an agreement that is satisfactory to them, an accommodation.
This issue is so serious to these people that when they testified in front of the standing committee they said that they considered this treaty an act of aggression, not only by the Nisga'a but by this government and by the Government of British Columbia. It is irresponsible. It is inconsiderate. It is a huge error in judgment on the part of government to proceed with ratification until an accommodation is reached.
When the Gitksan and Gitanyow leadership testified in front of the standing committee they gave us reasonable options. They did not say they wanted to have their land claim resolved first. They did not say that this treaty could not proceed. On the contrary, they said to go ahead and proceed with the treaty but to put some amendments in.
They gave us proposals for amendments that the government did not even consider when the legislation was debated at committee after the end of the testimony from all witnesses. The government did not ever consider them. I want the Gitksan and Gitanyow people who are watching at home, as I know they are, to know for the record that at committee the government did not even debate for one minute the amendments submitted by the Gitksan and Gitanyow chiefs when they were in Smithers.
We are saying that not only is that a mistake, not only is that a huge error, but it is reprehensible and we cannot proceed in parliament until that is addressed.
Those are the four major points that the Reform Party wants to advance in the course of debate over the next hours and days on the amendments that we submitted. I appreciate that we have submitted quite a number of amendments, but I suggest that if the government and the other opposition parties were willing to consider those four changes, the Reform Party would likely be a lot more accommodating to deal with than we will be if there is no hope or sign of any amendment or any change whatsoever. From the Nisga'a leadership point of view there should not be any undue alarm or concern with the four main points I have outlined today.
I see that my time is up. I appreciate the opportunity to lead off the debate and to advise the House of the main thrust and intention of the Reform Party's position on debate during report stage of Bill C-9.
I look forward to listening to other members of the House, particularly my colleagues, as they read into the record some of the testimony we heard in British Columbia, independent of what the standing committee did not hear because it denied witnesses and British Columbians the opportunity to come forward and be heard.
