Mr. Speaker, I was listening to the hon. member's speech on the bill before us. It is the same bill that we studied before the House prorogued. I heard almost nothing but statistics. We are not talking about a uniform group of nations from coast to coast. We are talking about different first nations.
Some 60% of first nations reject this bill while only 40% approve of it. How useful will this bill be? I do not think it will be useful and I think it should be dropped. I think the government must first recognize the first nations and the differences between them. As for all the services that were mentioned, the first nations already have access to them.
In my view, self-governance should be negotiated with each group, each first nation. That is the crux of the matter. Do we as a state want to recognize the power that belongs to the first nations, the power to govern themselves and make their own laws and regulations on their lands, just as we do for other groups?
That is the flaw with this bill and the reason for my question. Can the hon. member explain why the government is not making more of an effort to negotiate self-governance with each group? When asked, the deputy minister said, “We do not have the necessary resources or the necessary funds at this time to negotiate with each group”.