Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to thank the Bloc Quebecois for their kindness in letting me speak on a subject that is very important to the Yukon and to the member for the Yukon, as well as for their support on these bills. I think that their support is very important and so was their contribution to this debate. We in the Yukon appreciate their support for these bills.
It is with pleasure that I rise today to speak on these bills that are so important to the Yukon and to the future of the Yukon. There has been much said in the House on this debate about giving something to Indian people. In fact these bills give a great degree of autonomy to the Yukon people, aboriginal and non-aboriginal. Certainly the land was never conquered when Europeans first came to the Yukon and elsewhere in Canada. The land was taken and assumed. It was never ceded.
What we are doing this evening is an extremely important historical event in that we as democratic members of Parliament in a democratic country are recognizing the importance of redressing those historical wrongs.
This legislation has been a long time coming, more than 20 years of frustrating negotiations. We have seen a couple of generations grow up during these negotiations and tonight, we have the fruit of that dedication and spirit. We have a living document, a testament to the will and the commitment of the Yukon people. This legislation not only rights the bitter wrongs of the past but holds the key to the future, a future to which all Yukoners both aboriginal and non-aboriginal can look with pride and with hope. This legislation is a celebration of the Yukon spirit, that determination to meet all challenges, to carry on despite all obstacles and to work together to achieve a common goal even when the way is not easy.
The legislation is not the product of winners and losers. It is the product of many years of give and take and negotiation. It did not come easily. Each side had to cede on some of its objectives. Sometimes that was hard to explain both to aboriginal people and to non-aboriginal Yukoners.
As the previous speaker said the legislation represents a real definition, an attempt to work together in a co-operative way and to show that different cultures can live together in a harmonious and, even more important, respectful way, respectful of each other's languages and cultures.
While we say the legislation was 21 years in negotiation, it might be more accurate to say that it was 92 years to this day, June 22, 1994. It was in 1902 that Chief Jim Boss spoke simply to the government about the need to protect the land of his people. He said: "Tell the King we want something for our Indians because they take our land and our game". With those simple words began the stand which has led us to where we are today.
Chief Jim Boss' people were those who had for thousands of years hunted, fished and raised their families. They had a government system, a structural system, a cultural system, a justice system and an education system that they had devised as First Nations people in Yukon.
Anthropological evidence indicates that in fact there were aboriginal people in the Old Crow area of Yukon at least 20,000 years ago. With the coming of whalers to Herschel Island, the stampeders to the gold fields of the Klondike and thousands of American army engineers building the Alaska highway, cultures, languages, land and traditions were lost or eroded. Children were taken away from their families to residential schools. Communities were weakened by disease. Clans were scattered. Wildlife populations decimated. Critical habitat destroyed or altered and sacred places forgotten. One wonders how any vestige of pride and dignity or any shred of heritage could have survived, but it has survived in the wisdom of the elders and in the hope for the future.
It was a little over 20 years ago that Elijah Smith, a Yukon Indian who had served his country in the second world war, came back to Yukon to fight for the rights of his people from within. It was Elijah Smith who 20 years ago travelled to Ottawa bearing a document entitled Together Today For Our Children Tomorrow .
This evening is historic because this is the evening of tomorrow. I say that no one in Yukon expects this solves every problem that will ever arise in Yukon; but it is an attempt to build on that spirit of co-operativeness and of communalism that is part of the aboriginal tradition and part of Yukon history where people have learned that co-operation is necessary for survival.
There are many important details in the legislation, both the land claims legislation and the self-government legislation that I will not review. They have been very thoroughly reviewed in committee as well as in the House. However I will review some concerns that have been raised. One concern often raised
particularly by the Reform Party is that of equality, that these agreements, these pieces of legislation, represent an inequity as opposed to something more equal. I fundamentally and profoundly disagree with that view. These pieces of legislation and the negotiations which led to them are based on very fundamental equality, respect and dignity of all peoples for each other.
The agreements also recognize that all aboriginal communities are not the same. There are different cultures, different languages and different traditions even within Yukon. Therefore there must be a degree of flexibility to successfully implement and acknowledge those differences.
What is precedent setting? I have heard a great number of arguments about how dangerous these agreements are because they are precedent setting: we should all be very worried; we should be worried about apartheid; we should be worried about too many forms of government. It is quite the opposite. I think tonight is a night for rejoicing. The precedent set by these pieces of legislation is a very important one for the future of the country. The precedent is that different cultures or different linguistic groups can live together. They can do so successfully. They can negotiate to do so successfully and-this is the important precedent-they can do so within the context of Canada.
There was testimony given before the standing committee on aboriginal affairs by the governor of Yukon. It is important to note there was a strong consensus in Yukon to see the legislation go through. I have rarely in my years in the House of Commons, and indeed my years before I was in political life, seen a consensus of this nature. It was not arrived at 21 years ago. It took 21 years to arrive at this consensus, but we are at a point now in Yukon where we see the Yukon legislature passing unanimously, all parties including independent members, this companion legislation. We see as well the chamber of commerce, groups ranging from outfitters, mining associations to francoyukonnaise and other groups in Yukon unanimously supporting the passage of the legislation.
Questions have been raised about whether this was simply conducted behind closed doors. The previous government leader of Yukon in his testimony before the committee noted that during his government there were over 100 public consultations. The current government leader noted that they had many consultations with groups, with individuals and with communities and frequent discussions in every community of Yukon about the legislation as it proceeded.
The Council for Yukon Indians during this period also undertook extensive consultation. It had many general assemblies to discuss matters and to establish its negotiating position. It has been a long and arduous process. I believe it has been a fruitful process. In a sense two decades of Yukoners have learned that it will be necessary at times to compromise. In the end we will all gain from something of benefit to all of us.
The self-government legislation is extremely important as a companion piece to the land claims. Once and for all it throws off the cloak of colonialism and acknowledges that aboriginal people are competent to run their own affairs, can run their own affairs and will run their own affairs. In the past I have heard people say they really believe in it but that maybe people are not ready. The people of Yukon, the First Nations of Yukon, have been ready for a long time and now is the time.
I would say as well that as we look at the implementation of these agreements, recognizing that there will be another agreement, the surface rights act, to be dealt with later in the session in the fall by this House, it will take all three pieces of legislation before a proclamation of these two pieces of legislation and that third piece of legislation.
I do want to mention in fairness that there are people in the Yukon who have some concerns about their negotiations in land claims and their future. I am pleased that the standing committee on aboriginal affairs has recognized the concerns of the Kaska Dena Council which has transboundary claims and other concerns and has agreed to monitor the negotiations with the federal government that have been agreed to and will be undertaken and that its concerns were taken seriously. For this I certainly congratulate the chair of the standing committee and members that their concerns were taken seriously and will be dealt with.
I suppose the essence of what we are doing here tonight, better than any words I would give or indeed anyone in this House might give, were given in testimony by Elder Matthew Tom to the standing committee on aboriginal affairs when he began his presentation and his prayer by saying: "We are here to hold hands not be separate". That is really what this is all about.
Sometimes I believe that people feel that we do not have to deal with history and if we just move on it will be forgotten. I believe that we all know that in life you cannot just move on, that you must deal with some of the tragedies of history in order to move forward into the present.
The words of Matthew Tom will always remain with me because it is the reason why I stand here in this House of Commons and that many Yukoners before me in politics and in First Nations have dedicated their life to this moment tonight.
I understand that my time is nearly finished. I would conclude by saying that I would urge this House to unanimously support this legislation. It will show to Canadians that we understand that within Canada it is possible to recognize and respect our differences, our history and our traditions. I call on each member of this House to strike a voice tonight for that respect and for the future of our country.