Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I really appreciate the opportunity to make a submission today, and we will build on a previous pre-budget submission that we've made. Thank you to the members for having me here.
The Assembly of First Nations advocates for and supports over 600 first nations governments across the country, over 800,000 citizens, and I was honoured by having been put in the office of national chief just over three months ago.
I want to cover some areas we've touched on in the past. Really, it's about advocating on behalf of first nations governments for fair and equitable treatment when it comes to funding. What people are looking for is that it would be on par with the kind of access that other Canadians enjoy.
Historically, especially over the last decade or so, first nations have been faced with a 2% funding cap that's created some significant shortfalls in critical areas, and we've spoken about this in the past. Since 1996 the 2% figure has been either equal to or below the average inflation rate. At the same time, of course, first nations are the fastest-growing population in Canada.
So this is one of the major areas that we want to highlight and put forward to the committee. I know it's a blurring assembly of presentations that you're facing, but particularly in an era that follows on the apology by the Prime Minister that occurred in the House of Commons, reflecting on the past policy of the residential schools, never again should we have such an effort undertaken. It should never have happened. In that spirit, we would suggest that it's time to invest in first nations communities.
Firstly, stop the chronic underfunding of first nations. Secondly, commit to annual investments in first nations education, infrastructure, and skills development in order to increase productivity and participation in economic opportunities. Thirdly, we must shift from this notion of always being bound up in conflicts and in crises when it comes to issues in our communities, and move to a sustainable, predictable, and non-discretionary funding regime like those enjoyed by provinces and territories.
Speaking specifically about economic participation, we suggest very strongly that education and skills development are key to building first nations economies and adding to Canada's productivity. There is an inordinate amount of work that must be done in this area. In the short time that I've been national chief, I've been reaching out to the education establishment, the full spectrum of those who provide education. I know, in having travelled to many communities, particularly those isolated at this time, that there are still communities where kids have not gone to school in the last two or three years because of the need for infrastructure in communities.
First nations students definitely need the physical and cultural supports to be successful learners. This is evidenced not only anecdotally by the Assembly of First Nations, but it's been demonstrated in report after report. We should build on the good work of the Canadian economic action plan. There were commitments made in 2009 under this plan that we move to an annual dedicated allocation to new schools, build on the work that's been done. Over 60 schools are required in first nations communities across this country as I speak.
The provision of culturally grounded key education supports would build on the spirit and intent of what was expressed by the Prime Minister in the apology. If residential schools, under the guise of education, removed children from family, land, culture, and language, shouldn't, in addition to the development of human capital for a market economy, the education system be one to reconnect learners with land, language, culture, and family? We would suggest strongly, and it's backed up by a good number of reports that have been authored in recent years, that this will make for much more productive and healthy communities.
We should have education support systems in place, and libraries. There's a need for books and for supporting increased literacy in our communities, for special education, for technology, and we know the value of sports initiatives in our communities. There should be increased investment in skills development that links to opportunities and first nations' economic goals.
On the structural side, we should look to recognize that first nations aren't the only governments in Canada whose budgets for core and essential services are discretionary. To that effect, I would like to specifically recommend that Canada needs to work with first nations to strike a joint senior officials task force to examine the mechanisms for sustainable funding and shared accountability.
We need to move away from lurching from conflict to conflict and crisis to crisis. We need to apply the principles of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, move to stable and predictable transfers with built-in escalators that are related to real need—population and inflation—and these are of course used by other governments.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.