Thank you, Mr. Speaker. About two or three weeks ago, there was a public statement by Rosemarie Kuptana of the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, suggesting that they will be following up a resolution passed at the Inuit Tapirisat annual assembly suggesting that legal action be looked at as a way to minimize the impact of the gun legislation, to minimize the impact that it has on the traditional lifestyle of aboriginal people; the Inuit in particular.

I made a public statement following that suggesting that as a government, we do have a program called the aboriginal court challenges program which has a small amount of money available and symbolizes our own commitment to assisting aboriginal people, whenever we can, to protect and to further define their rights; to protect and define these rights through the courts if necessary. I had indicated that I would be prepared to consider supporting the Inuit in a possible court challenge. I'm aware that the Inuit are only looking at legal options and may be strategizing with other aboriginal groups across this country to decide whether they will proceed at this time or wait for implementation of this bill; where they would use an actual case that is brought before the courts to challenge the validity of the bill or provisions of the bill with regard to its application to Inuit people or perhaps to aboriginal people in other parts of the country.

There has been no request, as yet, for additional money, but there have been some discussions between officials to date. I should remind Members that the gun bill that is now law has yet to be implemented. We have details, at this time, from the federal government as to when or how they proposed to implement this bill. Thank you.