Juliet O'Neill, CanWest News ServicePublished: Canada.com
OTTAWA - Opposition MPs accused the minority Conservative government of anti-democratic practices Thursday as they foiled a sudden government bid for Commons committee passage of a bill subjecting the Indian Act to the federal human rights code. During a heated two-hour session of the aboriginal affairs committee, some spectators quietly hissed when Tory MPs attempted to launch clause-by-clause approval of the bill despite a motion approved last month requiring up to 10 months of advance consultation between government and First Nations groups. Many in the hearing room, including lawyers and other representatives of First Nations organizations, burst into applause when Liberal, New Democratic Party and Bloc Quebecois MPs staved off the government effort, passed the consultation motion for the second time and adjourned for the rest of the summer recess.
NDP critic Jean Crowder condemned the government for defying the committee's earlier decision and rejecting consultations with First Nations. "It does call into question a commitment to the democratic process," she said."I would like to remind you that the government is a minority and should act as a minority," said Bloc Quebecois critic Marc Lemay.Committee chair Colin Mayes, a B.C. Conservative MP, said the next step is to wait for a government response to the second consultation motion. Mayes also said he considered the 16 hearings on the bill held already comprised enough dialogue with stakeholders. "If every bill that came to a committee the committee decided 'oh no, the government has to talk with the public for another year or two years before we deal with this,' we'd never get any business done at all in Parliament," he said.
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