Yes, they didn’t want us to attend, by the way. Plus they didn’t want us to attend the meeting when they talked to the community. We had to fight our way to be able to attend the meeting. In fact, the Chief had to make a stand to say, “No, we want our representatives there.” Because your government did not want us there. Why? Are you afraid to be held accountable for what you do? That’s our job to make sure you do it. That’s our job to make sure that you live up to the commitments that you signed. That’s our job to make sure you do.

Thirty years for expansion, five years now for Kash, and nothing as of yet. Yet we continue.

If you want to talk consultation, go back to what you signed, and consult and fix the problems that they have in their own community, like Kashechewan, like Attawapiskat. Live up to what we signed and agreed to, because these are the documents you signed. You can’t blame the other previous government—

But, no, they are not looking for consent. They just want to plow through.

I want to get back to the First Nations, because when you talk about contaminated fuel issues that still happen in Attawapiskat, we fixed part of the problem but some of the problem is still left there. We talked about boil-water advisories—we talked about them when I talked about showers—and I talked about the housing crisis. The list goes on and on. A community that needs to expand the community for 30 years, and yet you’re talking that’s not part of reducing red tape. It should be part of reducing red tape. That should have been done a long time ago so that they can thrive as a community. Yet we are controlling them. We landlocked them. Sometimes I get comments from chiefs saying, “You know what they’re telling us? ‘Well, if you support the Ring of Fire, maybe we can do something.’” Is that acceptable for you?

C’est du chantage. Arrêtons de jouer au chat et à la souris, puis adressons les vraies « issues ».