Stephen Kakfwi Sahtu

Mr. Speaker, I have an emergency statement. Mr. Speaker, Bill C-68, An Act Respecting Firearms and Other Weapons, is currently being debated in the Senate during second reading. The bill will soon be sent to the Senate Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs for further review and public hearings. On behalf of the Legislature, the Member for Iqaluit, Mr. Patterson, and I travelled to Ottawa on Monday to meet with aboriginal leaders Ovide Mercredi, Rosemary Kuptana, Jim Sinclair and Gerald Morin. We also met with a number of Senators representing both the Conservatives and the Liberals.

With respect to the Senate, we targeted Members of the standing committee and the Senate House Leader. In addition to pressing for public hearings, we asked the committee Members to consider visiting the Northwest Territories this summer and fall. We encouraged them to see first hand how northern people use guns -- not as weapons, but as tools -- and discover for themselves how impossible it will be to administer the licensing and registration provisions of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, we impressed upon each Senator how important it is for our lawmakers in this country to meet the very people this new law would affect, should it pass. We told them of Helmut Kohl's visit and the surprising, yet welcome, change of mind this leader has had regarding the fur issue. We said that if Chancellor Kohl could take the time to visit, then surely the Members of the Senate committee could do no less.

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Mr. Speaker, during the meeting with national aboriginal leaders, we encouraged them to develop a united position on Bill C-68. To that end, they have agreed and accepted our invitation to meet in Yellowknife during the week of July 10th and plan to make Bill C-68 and the fur issue the main focus.

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As you know, we have done our best to make the lawmakers in Ottawa understand our point of view. In return, they offered up amendments that are, at best, window dressing. The promised consultation has been frustrating and grossly inadequate. Mr. Speaker, laws must make sense to the people they affect and to the people who must explain, enforce and defend them. In the case of Bill C-68, it is difficult to explain, impossible to defend and it will be incredibly expensive to administer and enforce. In addition, its effectiveness is questionable, at best.

Because of this, opposition to this hastily-drafted and poorly-researched legislation is building. Western provinces are concerned about jurisdiction issues and, like both territories, they are concerned about the costs of administration and enforcement. As well, the new government of Ontario has registered it's concerns and some of the Atlantic Premiers are questioning the costs. With additional opposition from a united aboriginal community, it will be difficult for the federal government to remain indifferent to the criticism.

Mr. Speaker, no firm dates have been set for public hearings planned by the Senate committee. The consensus is that they will likely be held in the last part of September, with an October reporting date. We will know in the coming days, as the bill passes second reading and the Senate Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs releases its timetable.

In conclusion, I want to assure Members that the Caucus Subcommittee on Gun Control remains committed and dedicated to seeking an exemption for the Northwest Territories from the offending provisions of Bill C-68. Unless and until the many practical difficulties can be addressed to our satisfaction, we simply cannot see how this bill can be supported. We will appear again before the public hearings to state our case on behalf of the Legislative Assembly and people of the Northwest Territories. Despite the fall election, we will make this lobby an important priority. Our last hope lies with the Senate. Hopefully, it will rise to the occasion and offer that sober second thought that Canada so desperately needs. Thank you.

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