Document Information

Date: 1980-04-29
By: Canada (Parliament)
Citation: Canada, House of Commons Debates, 32nd Parl, 1st Sess, 1980 at 509-510.
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THE CONSTITUTION

CONSTITUTIONAL DISCUSSION WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF INDIAN PEOPLE

Right Hon. Joe Clark (Leader of the Opposition): Madam Speaker, I have a question for the Prime Minister, who tonight I understand is addressing the ail chiefs and elders conference which is meeting in the city.

The Prime Minister will know, with regard to constitutional discussion, that the Conservative government agreed that rep-resentatives of the Indian people would participate fully and directly in all constitutional deliberations having an impact upon an identifiable interest in their affairs. Is it the intention of the government to honour that commitment?

Right Hon. P. E. Trudeau (Prime Minister): Madam Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition will permit me to remind him that his government, I believe it was last December, followed up the policy which we adopted in February of last year when at the first ministers’ conference on the constitution the federal government put on the agenda the issue of Indian participation and obtained the consent of the various premiers to have that item concluded the way we did.

The conclusion was that we undertook to have the ministers who were discussing the constitution meet with the Indians, and I am very happy that the then prime minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, followed up on this commitment. We certainly intend to go in that direction as well.

Mr. Clark: Madam Speaker, I am sure that hon. members appreciated the brief excursion into the history and background of the question. I wonder if the Prime Minister would now answer my specific question. Will the specific undertaking given by the government which I had the honour to lead be honoured in its specific terms by this government?

Mr. Trudeau: Madam Speaker, the purpose of stating the history was to indicate that we gave the undertaking and, necessarily, we will carry it out. In the meantime, I am happy that the Leader of the Opposition had an opportunity to subscribe to that undertaking.

Some hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Mr. Clark: Madam Speaker, if the Prime Minister is con- fused about the matter, I can advise him that the Indian people are not. They know there was a markedly different commitment given by the government which I had the honour to lead from that which was given by his government. It may well be that the Liberal government of the time was moving in that direction.

The Prime Minister could ease concern and clarify the question considerably if he would indicate to the House whether it is the intention of his government to honour in specific terms the commitment given by the government which I had the honour to lead.

Mr. Trudeau: Madam Speaker, if the Leader of the Opposition refers to the blues, he will see that I gave that commitment at the end of my first answer.

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510

NEGOTIATION ON COLLECTIVE RIGHTS OF ABORIGINAL PEOPLES

Mr. Lorne Nystrom (Yorkton-Melville): Madam Speaker, my question is also for the Prime Minister: it is on the constitution as it pertains to the aboriginal people of this country.

I should like to ask the Prime Minister if he is prepared to negotiate with Canada’s aboriginal people the entrenchment of certain collective rights for them in any new Canadian constitution.

Right Hon. P. E. Trudeau (Prime Minister): Madam Speaker, the question is too general for me to do it justice in this particular forum. If the hon. member would indicate what he means by collective rights, we might have a little discussion about them.

Mr. Nystrom: A supplementary question, Madam Speaker: Is the Prime Minister willing to negotiate with these people the entrenchment in our constitution of certain collective rights? Those rights could be defined in future negotiations between the Indian people of this country and the federal government and perhaps the provinces.

In principle, is the Prime Minister in agreement with the entrenchment of certain collective rights for the Indian nations of this country in a new Canadian constitution?

Mr. Trudeau: Madam Speaker, I apologize to the hon. member, but I repeat: if he is asking me a theoretical question without indicating what he has in mind–

Mr. Nystrom: Will you negotiate?

Some hon. Members: Oh, oh!

Mr. Trudeau: There seems to be a bit of worry over there. The position I have always taken on these discussions-but I realize it is perhaps not the forum to do it-is that there are very few collective rights which cannot be protected by reducing them to individual rights. I should like to know more from the hon. member about what he has in mind.

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