Mr. Chairman, for the record I wanted to say that I will be abstaining from voting on this motion, basically because the situation right now is that in all other jurisdictions when discussions were made to constitutional papers, native people have never been involved, primarily because the fiduciary responsibility still rests with the federal government. I do not know what the political or legal ramifications are with regard to me as a Member in this House, an aboriginal Member as such, still having the legal authority to represent my constituency. I honestly cannot accept something like this without saying what this means. I am afraid that by me accepting this motion, it may imply that the fiduciary responsibility goes to this government and they will be the agent representing the aboriginal people. Due to the fact that it is unclear, I still prefer that I do not know why the treaty people are caught up in this process and were part of this process. It makes it difficult because we still have a relationship with the Government of Canada. Because I am unsure of what it really means, I will abstain from voting.
Samuel Gargan on Committee Motion 100-12(3): To Accept The Report Of The Commission For Constitutional Development
In the Legislative Assembly on March 16th, 1993. See this statement in context.
Committee Motion 100-12(3): To Accept The Report Of The Commission For Constitutional Development
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
March 15th, 1993
Page 967
Samuel Gargan Deh Cho
See context to find out what was said next.