Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will not respond to all the comments that Mr. Nerysoo has raised, but they were all valid ones.
As we know, this was a very complicated process, and if you were to listen to all the commentators that have reported on this Consensus Report over the last couple of weeks, you will hear all these issues raised, we are dealing with very, very complex matters.
The report however, was the best effort after a long, long period of time, and we should take some comfort from the fact that this was a process of consensus. It is called a Consensus Report. In other words, there was a long period of give and take among an awful lot of people. So, we should feel pleased, I suppose, since we are a consensus assembly that this was the approach that was taken. There was no battering of doors down, or bullying. A tremendous amount of patience, trying to cobble together a Consensus Report, and I know that some Members are a little bit concerned about trying to put on a report, because that is what this is, it is a report as a result of the process, which contains the substance of what eventually, we hope, will be a new Constitution.
I know that some Members are worried about the use of the word endorse. Some of us believe that it is such a significant step forward that we should be prepared to put our stamp, if you like, to endorse something means to say "yes". When you bang your hand down three times with your piece of rubber, I guess, and say this is something we approve of, it has our approval, then we endorse it.
As I said yesterday, Mr. Chairman, there is no Constitution that has ever been written as a perfect document. It has not happened yet, and some people believe that if you use the word endorse, that means that you are putting your stamp of approval on an imperfect document. That seems to be the way I hear people talking. It is the best effort that some very, very dedicated and clever people, the cleverest people we have in this business, I suppose, could come up with. For that reason, we felt that because it was the best effort of an awful lot of people, that we would not be too shy, that what we would do is to endorse it.
It could be that people want to debate the kind of approval we give to this best effort over a long period of time by a lot of people. Some people may want to say they just want to support it. Some people may want to say that they only want to support it in principle. The fact remains, though, Mr. Chairman, that we have some kind of obligation to give our opinion of it in this Assembly, and Mr. Nerysoo has advanced this quite considerably today by bringing up the kinds of issues that people are raising all across the country, about what is in the report, and what concerns may have been raised.
Well, I can assure Members, though, that in the discussion that took place, many of the provisions that appeared in the document appeared as a result of the concerns of various interest groups in the multilateral conferences. Things like, for example, a fair, equitable, and reasonable, description and treatment of the treaties. It was something that the Assembly of the First Nations really wanted to have.
Now, I was not about to question why somebody would want to have a long standing agreement between aboriginal people and the Crown. It would not be my position to argue, well, you know, why do you need to have something like that, an old historical dusty document, which describes your relationship with the Crown, because to some people that is a sacred relationship. It matters greatly, so it was not in my opinion, my position, to really question whether that was something that should be in an accord like this, or a Consensus Report.
Many of the things appeared in the document because of that process. Things appeared that mattered to people. Mr. Chairman, if we are going to proceed with a proper ventilation of all the issues that people would like to have discussed in this Assembly, then what we want to avoid doing is going through all the steps that took place over a long period of time. It is a very complex business, as Mr. Nerysoo, Mr. Kakfwi, and Mr. Arvaluk know, they have been through all this. They know what a complex path that you go through when you are trying to get something agreed on by a lot of people.
The discussion has been well advanced and many of the issues have been raised, which should be raised. We are going to have to decide very soon, Mr. Chairman, in my view, what position we are going to take as an Assembly, on the Consensus Report. That is what it is, a Consensus Report.
Whether we want to endorse it, as the recommendation of the committee suggests we do, or we in fact, look at it, and say it is not absolutely 100 percent perfect, and we would not want to put a stamp like this, so firmly, on something that is not perfect.
I am prepared to do that, as an act of faith. I am prepared to endorse this, as the best efforts of the people of goodwill have worked with patience over a long period of time. When we get to it, Mr. Chairman, that will be the nature of the debate, I think we should engage in. Thank you.