Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak about the commentary given on C.B.C. radio on September 30. In this commentary, Danielle Whitworth argues that the federal government is pursuant in the policy of assimilation of aboriginal people, and that by agreeing to the proposed Charlottetown Accord, our leaders have been pulled, perhaps unwillingly, into this process.
Mr. Speaker, as a strong advocate of the Charlottetown Accord, and an aboriginal leader, I must disagree with Ms. Whitworth. It is my firm belief, that this accord will, for the first time since confederation, allow aboriginal people to begin to solve some of the problems that they are faced with in terms of health, housing, education, etc.
The entrenchment of self-government in the Constitution allows aboriginal people to implement their own solutions to those pressing problems. Unlike, Ms. Whitworth, I believe that assimilation occurs and is occurring because aboriginal people have no control over the process that shapes our own lives.
To a large extent our institution, programs, or services within aboriginal communities, whether they be health, justice, education or housing, have been based on European models. This is an assimilation. To stop this, we must reinstate our own value systems into our communities and organizations.
I believe that one step in this process is the realization of aboriginal self-government. Despite the flaws, I believe that the Charlottetown Accord presents a unique opportunity for aboriginal people to take some measures of control over their own lives through this self-government process.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, Ms. Whitworth argues that aboriginal women have been unjustly served by the accord and by male aboriginal leaders. That the accord will mean nothing more than the continued poverty and oppression of the rights of aboriginal women. Chief Wendy Grey of the Assembly of First Nations has suggested the opposite, that the women and the aboriginal women have never done that well under the Charter of Rights. This can only be an improvement.
Mr. Speaker, I can only speak from my perspective as an aboriginal person in the Northwest Territories, when I look around and see...