Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for introducing this important bill this morning. I should emphasize that this bill was co-developed, which is real progress. At the end of her speech, the minister reached out to us all when she used the word “together”. Let us allow that to inspire us in our work.
There is one issue that is important to me, though. She said in her speech that modern treaties are good for communities in terms of economic development and household income. This creates an inequality between first nations that have access to modern treaties and those that do not.
In my opinion, the minister should prioritize implementing new modern treaties. What has her department been doing in that regard? The commissioner position is important, but I gather people have been calling for it for 20 years. Why did it take so long? Why are more modern treaties not being signed?