PAT MARTIN DERAILS LIBERAL PLANS

TO RAM THROUGH NEW ABORIGINAL ACT    

OTTAWA—“The Liberals are not going to ram through another piece of legislationwithout a fight,” MP Pat Martin vowed today as he prepared for another marathon filibuster in the Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.

Yesterday, Martin held the floor in the House of Commons committee for more than 12 hours, scuttling plans by Liberal members to cut short the debate. He intends to keep up the filibuster for as long as possible.

“Liberal arrogance is astounding,” said the NDP Critic for Aboriginal Affairs.

“The Indian Act was written 126 years ago. It desperately needs revision. Aboriginal people know that. In hearings across the country, they have made sound, responsible, carefully considered recommendations to this government about the kind of legislation that is needed now and in the future.

“Those suggestions have been ignored. The legislation the Liberal government is determined to ram through is the project of a few political hacks in the Prime Minister’s office. It is being imposed on the Committee on Aboriginal Affairs, on Parliament and more importantly—tragically and unjustly—on the Aboriginal peoples of Canada.”

Martin, MP for Winnipeg Centre, said that rushing any of the three bills that have been drafted to replace the old Indian Act “is foolish and wrong. We need to get this right.”

It was especially cynical of the Liberal government, he said, to rush its treaty claims bill through the House of Commons in February while members of the Aboriginal Affairs Committee were away on cross-country hearings regarding the First Nations Governance Act.

“Do you want further evidence of Liberal arrogance and cynicism? The Liberal majority in the Committee has insisted on holding meetings in camera.

“They’ll pay for this down the road in Aboriginal discontent, in systems and programs that haven’t a hope of succeeding,” concluded Martin. “We’ll all pay for it, aboriginal people most of all.”