Finance committee  Thank you very much for that question. I want to answer in this way. We've already heard who will benefit from this. This will benefit business and government, not people. What we have is small businesses and communities, and those are people. So no, this particular tax regime, or any change in this tax regime, is not going to help anybody within the community.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Mulcair. Certainly we appreciate any efforts made by any party, particularly the NDP, to get standing at this committee. What I'd like to see is that all parties of the House understand and recognize and respect aboriginal treaty rights, and this, I think, is a minimalist approach with respect to that.

Finance committee  It's certainly one of our options. We're looking at all options right now. What we have said here as leaders is that this is the last diplomatic ploy we have to make sure that our rights are protected. Certainly other than that, we'll use whatever means exist within Canadian law and international law to get that recognized.

Finance committee  Thank you, sir.

Finance committee  There is no taxation whatsoever within our reserves, our communities—we talk about reserves. I want to try to make one point here, and it has been raised a few times. The Supreme Court of Canada has already made the decision with respect to first nations government that they have to protect the rights of their citizens regardless of their residency.

Finance committee  Currently we enjoy a point-of-sale exemption in a majority of stores. It's a policy, and it's up to the store now as to whether or not they employ that. So there's been an erosion of that over the years. But to characterize your question: fair enough.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  I couldn't answer that. I'm just here with respect to Ontario's position. That's the way we've dealt with it in Ontario. I think they've done it properly, but I couldn't speak on behalf of others.

Finance committee  No, sir.

Finance committee  Thank you for that. Mr. Chair, I really don't have any response whatsoever. I met personally with Minister Flaherty. He gave me his assurance that we would sit down and have this dialogue. Then, once we met with the officials—senior ministers, the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, the Minister of Finance, and the Minister of Revenue for Ontario—they reiterated that this is what was going to happen.

Finance committee  Sir, I'll quickly respond to that. Mr. Chair, when we met with provincial officials, they said that it was up to the federal government. When we met with the federal government, they said it was up to the provincial government. So this is where we are right now with respect to some of the frustration and concern about moving this issue forward.

Finance committee  I just want to respond to that. I certainly do appreciate the member's support with respect to this, but there is one issue that we did raise with the Liberal Party, and we found it within the Liberal Party's platform. I'm going to read this off to you. It says, “...the Liberal Party of Canada rejects the GST, and more particularly, categorically rejects the imposition of the GST to first nations and their citizens....”

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. [Witness speaks in Oneida] Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members of this committee, for allowing us to make this presentation today. I am going to reiterate much of what Chief Toulouse has indicated with respect to the way we see this as a violation with respect to our treaty rights.