Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member who does fantastic work on our behalf in the natural resources area.
The concern we have raised repeatedly is this. The government speaks of the fact that we have a great skills shortage and, apparently, there is some question about that. The experts are debating that right now in the media. If we have a big skills shortage and the government wishes to fill it with indigenous Canadians, then it has to give them basic education and skills so they can compete and apply for those jobs.
The second issue is that indigenous Canadians should have an equal right to any other Canadian to decide what they want to be educated in and what kind of jobs they want to pursue. They do not necessarily all want to be welders and pipefitters. A good number of them do, but a good number of them want to be doctors, teachers and parliamentarians. We remain deeply disturbed that the government is not removing this 2% funding cap on education.
An increasing number of indigenous youth are completing high school, but there is also a cap on assistance for higher education. Therefore, there are many frustrated people out there who would like to pursue other jobs.