Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to talk about the financial assistance First Nations students receive for their post-secondary education.

Mr. Speaker, starting in the year 2007, the Canadian Revenue Agency will be issuing the first T4-A tax forms to First Nations students who have received money from their bands for their college and university education. By doing this, the federal government is treating post-secondary student financial assistance as a taxable income and is demonstrating a lack of regard to First Nations treaty rights.

Mr. Speaker, this is a treaty right, despite the view of the Government of Canada that the post-secondary education assistance program is a social policy concern. This is evident from the precedent cases heard by the Supreme Court of Canada which supports the inclusion of student financial assistance for treaty Indians as a non-taxable income, which is the intent of treaties 1 through 11.

Mr. Speaker, the federal government is taxing the educational funding which struggling students have accessed, which include tuition fees, book allowance and living allowance, scholarships, bursaries and travel dollars that will result in well-rounded and well-educated people upon the completion of their studies, ultimately for the benefit of the country but especially for the benefit of the treaty aboriginals themselves and the people that they represent.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to reiterate that a responsible federal government looks after the regular people they are serving that make up this vast country. It is the responsibility of this government to lobby the federal government to not treat post-secondary education assistance programs for treaty Indians as a taxable income, and to remind them to recognize and respect this right that has already been established when the first treaty was signed and has already been proven in our Canadian justice system and perhaps focus their attention on taxing the faceless corporate giants who are always overlooked when federal taxation proponents rear their ugly heads as persons receiving what I consider negligible benefits given the conditions that they had to endure to be considered eligible for such a benefit. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause