Statement made on 23 November 2011 by Senator Nick Sibbeston
Hon. Nick G. Sibbeston:
Honourable senators, I am pleased to stand up and support the bill. We had an opportunity yesterday in the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples to have federal officials and the Cree leaders involved in this agreement appear before us. It was a very good discussion. I was thinking about my colleague Senator Patterson and that this was just like the old days when we were together in the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories. For 12 years Senator Patterson represented the Inuit, and I represented the Dene in the west. We both worked to advance the cause of people and made a great deal of progress in this area and also in the area of responsible government.
I am pleased that there is no partisanship in this bill. Certainly in the other house all parties were in agreement, and hopefully all honourable senators will support the bill.
One area I raised and was concerned about in the committee was implementation. Land claim agreements in the past have been signed with a great deal of hope about their effect and hope that they would improve people's lives. Generally, they have. All land claim agreements in Canada have, I believe, been very positive. There have been at least four major land claim agreements in the Northwest Territories. In all cases they have advanced the lot and state of Aboriginal people in a very real way.
One problem over the last number of decades has been the issue of implementation. I am satisfied in the questions and in the answers that were provided by federal officials and the claimants in this case that the issue of implementation has been sufficiently covered. There are provisions in the bill and in the agreement for a 10-year review with respect to the federal government coming through, as it were, with respect to all aspects of the agreement.
I am satisfied with the answers provided and that the implementation of this particular agreement will come into effect in a positive way.
I do not have a great deal to say beyond this. I simply wish to urge all honourable senators to support the bill. I think it is a very good bill. It deals with an area in Northern Quebec along the shore of James Bay and Hudson Bay, and it will affect the Cree and some of the Inuit people in that area. I urge all honourable senators to support the bill.