Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and Members. The fact that the leader of this delegation proudly identified herself as an aboriginal person who had previously worked for the Assembly of First Nations, made the manipulation and exploitation of my constituents even more upsetting.

Why am I so offended by what happened? Firstly, if you are serious about consulting people, you let them know in advance that you are coming. What did this group do the week before they came to Iqaluit? They called the secretary to the Qikiqtaaluk Wildlife Board to talk about a possible visit to Baffin. When he left the office on Friday, nothing had been confirmed. On Monday morning, when he came to work, he was astonished to find three members of the firearms control task force had arrived in Iqaluit the day before. They wanted him to organize a meeting that morning before they caught the plane to Igloolik that afternoon. The president of the HTA was on his way out hunting. He was stopped, as he prepared to leave, on the beach loading his komatik, and very generously agreed to attend this very hastily called meeting. Other people were called on short notice to come to the meeting. As a result, it did not get under way until mid-morning. When it became obvious that there was not time to even begin discussions of the implications of the bill that morning, participants were asked to continue through the lunch hour, but without lunch. When it became further obvious that there was not time to even begin to discuss the implications of the bill at that meeting, the committee had the nerve to suggest that their itinerary allowed them to be in Iqaluit the following Wednesday between 12:00 noon and their 3:00 pm plane to Rankin Inlet that afternoon and we could meet again between planes, they offered.

Mr. Speaker, this kind of approach is not consultation. This is a speeding express train. My constituents now know what it is like to have been railroaded.

At the end of the meeting, people from my constituency politely told members of the firearms task force that they would prefer to have materials circulated in advance and that they would prefer to be given notice of consultation visits. I was not so restrained. I told the members of the task force that their approach was totally unacceptable and warned them that they should not use this meeting as a justification to say they had consulted us. This was not consultation, I told them; this was a juggernaut! We do not want to be used to make the Minister's political agenda easier in Ottawa.

So, what did I hear a few days later on CBC Morningside when Peter Gzowski interviewed federal Justice Minister Allan Rock about this new bill? Peter Gzowski understands the north. He knew that we were feeling left out, overlooked and disregarded. So he asked Mr. Rock about the people of the north. He asked Mr. Rock about Rosemarie Kuptana's expressed concerns about Bill C-68. Mr. Gzowski said to Mr. Rock, "Ms. Kuptana says the Inuit do not feel consulted." Mr. Rock replied, "But Peter, the Inuit Tapirisat themselves put us on to the people that we should consult in the meetings that are going on in the Arctic now. They identified which communities, which people, which groups should be involved in the consultation which has started. We have people in the Arctic doing that talking, listening and designing a way in which this should be implemented in aboriginal communities."

How shameful that Mr. Rock should suggest that Rosemarie Kuptana and ITC has bought into this sham of a consultation process.

This is manipulation, Mr. Speaker, by a government with a majority and a Minister who is cultivating support from his Toronto constituents at the expense of those of us who will be most affected by this invasion of our lives. This is a majority running roughshod over a helpless minority. We seem to have no one to speak for us. We are proud of the fact that our MPs have achieved great recognition in the new Government of Canada. Honourable Ethel Blondin-Andrew is a Member of Cabinet. Mr. Jack Anawak is a parliamentary secretary. But if our MPs dare to vote against the bill, we know they will be stripped of these honours. Ms. Blondin-Andrew herself described the choices she faces in an interview on CBC Mackenzie on May 16th. She said, "My whole life has been directed towards what I am doing now and I am not about to take that lightly by losing my whole career on one vote."

Mr. Speaker, I believe that MLAs in this Assembly are against this bill, as drafted. Our Minister of Justice is against this bill. We heard his statement today on that subject and other statements he has made recently. The NWT Association of Municipalities is unanimously against this bill. NWT aboriginal leaders are against this bill. None of my constituents support this bill. So who will speak for us? Who will consult us properly and with respect? What safeguards does democracy provide for us? Democracy is not working very well here. There is a majority in Parliament led by a Toronto Minister pushing his urban agenda on the minority in remote rural and northern communities. Considering the sham consultations, the lack of respect shown to my constituents, the federal Minister trying to implicate Rosemarie Kuptana and ITC in the sham, the federal Minister saying we are listening, considering the threats to muzzle our MPs, considering the rush to ram this bill through, this process looks more and more like manipulation and tyranny and less and less like democracy every day. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause