Senator LaBoucane-Benson: Yes, I do agree with you. That is my understanding.

Senator LaBoucane-Benson: Of course.

Senator R. Patterson: Thank you. I’m not Indigenous; I am not Métis, First Nation or Inuit. I appreciate everything that’s been said so that we can understand the history and what “time immemorial” really means.

My question revolves around Métis identity. “Time immemorial,” based on Senator McCallum’s explanation, means “from the beginning into the future”; it’s a continuum — a continuous line. Part of a Métis person comes from settlers and another part comes from an Indigenous culture.

My question to you, as a Métis person, is this: If the language is not inclusive, would Métis people feel that part of them has been denied?

Senator LaBoucane-Benson: Thank you for that question. I do not speak on behalf of all Métis people, and I think my honourable colleague said that she had conversations — which I wasn’t a part of — and that that would not be the case.

As a Métis person, I also want to say that the understanding of Métis as mixed blood is a way of thinking about Métis people that is a bit uncomfortable. Métis people are a cultural construct of a group of people who created their own culture, which originated in the Red River. That culture is very specific, and, yes, it was a combination of different things, but it evolved to be something of its own.

As a Métis person, I want to put forward that being inclusive and acknowledging that Métis people have had a traumatic history is important, and using inclusive language would be helpful.

Hon. Patti LaBoucane-Benson (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate): Honourable senators, I give notice that, at the next sitting of the Senate, I will move:

That, when the Senate next adjourns after the adoption of this motion, it do stand adjourned until Tuesday, November 21, 2023, at 2 p.m.

Hon. Patti LaBoucane-Benson (Legislative Deputy to the Government Representative in the Senate), pursuant to notice of November 7, 2023, moved:

That the report on the Statutes Repeal Act for the year 2023, tabled in the Senate on February 1, 2023, be referred to the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs for examination and report; and

That the committee submit its report to the Senate no later than Tuesday, December 5, 2023.