Senator Gold: With respect, I understand that this is a serious issue.

I appreciate your passion, because this is an important issue. Unfortunately, the facts are the facts. The government’s means of intervening are limited. They are not unlimited, even when it comes to the environment. It is a shared jurisdiction. The fact that there is an Indigenous community involved does not in any way diminish the responsibility of the Sûreté du Québec and the Province of Quebec to maintain law and order and to enforce the law, in a general sense, in communities like Kanesatake.

This does not give the federal government unlimited authority to intervene. Furthermore, this is to say nothing of the dangers to public safety in the event of any heavy-handed intervention that is not well planned with the appropriate authorities, including the community’s band council.

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