Hon. Scott Tannas: Honourable senators, my question is about the action plan development phase of Bill C-15 implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into law in Canada. During the bill’s passage through Parliament, the action plan time frame was voluntarily reduced by the government on request from three years to two years. This raised some eyebrows and some concerns. Governments don’t usually get things done faster. We have certainly, in our experience, seen lots of evidence of that.

The action plan is vital to the success of this historic bill, and the bill carries a lot of hopes and dreams of many Canadians. Now with less than nine months left until the end of the two-year deadline, if the two-year development time frame proves to be inadequate to get this crucial job done properly, will you and your colleagues do the brave thing and take the extra time to get the job done right?