Ron Irwin

[Indian Affairs, October 5th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the Frog Lake band situation is not as simple as that, as the member should know since she lives approximate to it, although very seldom visits it.

On Frog Lake there is an issue between those who want to have housing and those who want to have a band office to the extent that the chief's health-he is a good chief-has deteriorated significantly and he wants to leave.

The hon. member would serve her constituents in a budding band in a more fruitful manner if she would go there and help that chief because he is in a very difficult situation and in ill health.

[Saugeen First Nation, October 4th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, if a claim has been issued it has not come to my desk. Anyone can issue a claim in Canada. If it is by writ, it winds up with the Minister of Justice. If it is a claim, the member knows there is a process, and if it is a legitimate grievance then it is negotiated.

In 1993 in the Nadjiwon case the Ontario provincial court found that the Saugeen Ojibway have a right of access to and use of their traditional fishing ground around the Bruce Peninsula. The provincial court did not find a right of ownership. If there is an issue there, I am sure in due course it will be decided by a court.

I think the hon. member is doing a disservice to a court system and a claim system we have in Canada that provides for due process and not political brownie points.

[Lac Barriere Reserve, October 3rd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is consumed with the second question. I believe I answered it in the first answer.

[Lac Barriere Reserve, October 3rd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, earlier this year there was an allegation raised in the House by one of the Reform members of sexual assault at Barriere Lake, which is an Algonquin reserve northwest of Montreal. As a result, a memorandum of agreement dated April 1995 was signed by Health Canada, the Province of

Quebec Youth Protection Directorate, the band, and DIAND was a fourth party but not a signatory.

A consultant came in from Winnipeg with a staff of five or six. Quebec allocated two or three people. Workshops were done, translations, healings. There were 14 to 19 recommendations. The question is whether the report will be made public. The answer is certainly. Certainly it will be made public. There will have to be some protection, as the hon. member knows, because youth are involved here. That was the full intent of the exercise.

[Indian Affairs, September 27th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I have the highest respect for the work of the Indian claims commission. Part of our red book commitment is to make the system more efficient and more just.

The problem I have, which the member knows, is whether it should be a justice system with binding judgments or a mediation system similar to what it is now, going through the convoluted process of having first to be turned down by the Indian claims commission.

That has not been settled by the chiefs. When I have some direction from the chiefs we could certainly move ahead on the desires of the Indian claims commission.

[Nunavut, September 20th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, the report to which the hon. member refers is an advisory report to the Inuit people, to the

territorial government and to the federal government. It is no more or no less.

I am leaving next Thursday for a two-day meeting with the Inuit people in Rankin Inlet where the matter will be discussed. Hopefully at some point very soon we will be able to pick a capital.

[Aboriginal Affairs, September 19th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, even the hon. member realizes that we are dealing with human emotions and grievances go very deep. At the Ipperwash camp I thought it was better that the First Nations be out there policing and they are the peacekeepers there.

We practise the policy of hope. We are not always going to be successful because we never accomplish everything we want to

accomplish. Reformers practise the policy of despair and they prove every day that they have reached their goals.

[Aboriginal Affairs, September 19th, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, it is good to be back. I did not expect to be congratulated by the Reform Party but I think in the last three weeks even Reform could admit that we can deal face to face with aboriginal people.

Quite frankly I went into Ipperwash when everybody said don't go, that it was dangerous. I found spiritual leaders and I found people who wanted the Liberal Party there, who wanted some leadership there. I am sorry that the Reform could not come.

What has happened in Ipperwash is that we have an outstanding agreement from 1942. It is about time that we implemented the agreement. They have been waiting. We have agreed to do it. We will have a credible negotiator there. He will meet with the First Nations and presumably he will meet with the townspeople.

[Aboriginal Affairs, June 22nd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, this allows me to clarify my answer on that date.

The investigation by the la Commission de la jeunesse is in relation to the sexual abuse. The member for the Reform Party stood up and basically under the protection of the House defamed a member of the Canadian Bar Association of Ontario. He did not have the guts to go outside and do the same thing. He should do that today. He has already received a letter from that lawyer saying if he does he will be sued for defamation.

[Aboriginal Affairs, June 22nd, 1995]

Mr. Speaker, I came here today prepared to commend the hon. member and his colleague in the Reform Party who went up to Barrière Lake. I thought that was very broad minded.

I sat here and listened to the statement of the pair. The aboriginal people of Barrière Lake do not have the opportunity to stand in the House and I feel it is incumbent upon me to put forward their side on what happened.

I was handed a letter that was handed to the hon. member who put the question. They welcomed the hon. members up there. They wanted to show them their way of life. The hon. members chose the topics. They asked questions like: "Is the premier of Quebec the minister of aboriginal affairs? How do you become an elder?" They met with the accountant and they refused to listen to him. They wanted to take them to show them their forestry but they refused.

They ended up by saying: "We thought we were dealing with honourable people who wanted to learn about us. We forgot we were dealing with partisan politicians who are more interested in advancing their own political agenda than in hearing the truth. As I was saying at the beginning of this letter, I hoped this meeting would enlighten you. Apparently it didn't".

Mr. Speaker, it is a shame, a real shame.