We are not asking for land. Unlike the Bloc our intention is not to separate. Our intention is to keep the country together, to live with each other.
I just want to get back to the original terms of our relationship. It is important to understand why we live in the conditions on our reserves. The first and most destructive piece of legislation that has kept us under wraps has been the Indian Act. I have always thought the Indian Act would have established the relationship between the governments of Canada and the First Nations, not one that totally binds us or totally shackles us on a daily basis. By trying to do away with the Indian Act the government can address the issue. At least it will put the control of our lives and our destinies in the hands of the First Nations. We have never signed away or bargained away that right.
Governments outlawed many of our ceremonies. They basically outlawed our Indian spirituality. Indian spirituality is a way of life for us. Governments outlawed the dances, the ceremonies and the potlatch. Basically they outlawed how we manifested our relationship with the Creator. It was against the law to do that.
Indian spirituality is a way of life. In order to establish a relationship with oneself, with one's family and with the community one needs to have that spirituality in oneself to establish that relationship, to be able to establish the relationship with other people who have come to this country of Canada, even to establish the relationship with the environment, with all living things, with the land, the air, the water, all the trees and all the
animals. We need to have that. In order to be able to function as a society, able to function as a government we need to have that.
In order to have any kind of sense of moral values you need to have respect that there is another way of doing things, not just your own way. People need to recognize that. When they outlawed all these things, the classic example of how we were beaten, even for speaking our language, was done through the educational system. People were strapped for speaking their language when we went to residential school.
Many people can talk to you about the instruments that the governments used to assimilate us, to integrate us. Even cultural genocide is written in black and white as to the intentions of the government. Certainly when they outlawed the spiritual aspect of our people they destroyed many people. We might as well have existed with no heart and no soul. We might as well have been just basically robots running around without any kind of conscience or any kind of moral values.
Let me tell you that aspect has never been taken away. It has been our strength because today we have survived many years of assimilation and persevered despite government policies.
I said in my statement yesterday about Aboriginal Solidarity Day that we are a great nation, that we are a great people, that greatness is not measured by material wealth, but is measured by how much we are able to give and how much we are able to share.
That has been demonstrated by the First Nations to the rest of the world by what kind of people we are today. That as I said has been our greatest strength and has made us endure all kinds of things that have been thrown in our way. Today we are resolving a small portion of the country in which many of the First Nations live in the territory of Yukon in order to settle their land claims.
If we look at the tremendous contributions that the aboriginal people have made, this is a very small aspect of what they are getting. If we look at all the Indians, First Nations across the country, when they signed the treaties and shared the land and the resources, how much can we calculate in terms of dollars? How much can we calculate in terms of dollars has that been to the cost of the aboriginal people?
It probably runs into billions, maybe trillions of dollars, that the First Nations have shared so that other people can live in this country.
When you look in the communities we live in third world conditions. Many of the necessities of the south in our communities in the north are considered luxuries. We have no plumbing on our reserves and no roads. We have to fly in. Unemployment is high.
In the meantime the people in southern Canada benefit from the lands and resources we shared with the governments.
Even if we get a small percentage, let us say 5 per cent of the land resources alone, there is enough for the government to be able to honour its commitment to the First Nations in this country.
Canadian people question the government about their tax dollars but it does not have to necessarily get the money from the ordinary taxpayer to pay for its treaty obligations. I know we have to maintain the social programs such as medicare and family allowance, old age pensions. Those dollars generated from the income tax of ordinary Canadians or other means, the government does not necessarily use that money to pay for its treaty obligations.
It is the land and resources which we shared that we expect the government to get the revenues generated. There is enough for it to give to the First Nations in order to honour its treaty commitments and treaty promises. I do not know how much that runs into. I think it runs into billions of dollars.
I expect governments to recognize the First Nations as equals. That we will always have the ability to enter into treaties. We did not subject ourselves to the governments. That is one thing the Reform Party should understand. We have never been equals at the bargaining table.
As I said there is no threat in that because our guarantee is to share the land resources. I might as well say our constitution is written in our hearts and enables us to share what we have.
Often times I find that people and governments want certainty to the land. I know how business operates. I know the realities of business that need to be developed and companies would want to have a certainty in terms of ownership of land. I believe there is another way to deal with those things but it is not something that is part of the bill. I do have other opinions and other ways of dealing with that. At some point maybe later on we can talk about it.