Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm just trying to determine what the constraints might be.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There was a letter that just recently went out from the ADM to the unsuccessful first nations at this point in time. The minister wrote to the 18 that were admitted, and the ADM of lands and environment wrote to the others. In that letter the indication was to contact the regional departmental officials, and they would work through with each of the first nations what it would take for those first nations to become ready.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm just going to come back to an earlier question and just finish that. In Chief Louie's letter to Minister Duncan, with respect to the signing ceremony of the 18 so that they could sign the adhesion document to the framework agreement, Chief Louie suggested that on this occasion if we had a two-day session, we would be able to sit down with the 18 new first nations and run them through the whole developmental process, all of the 45 steps roughly that are in the community voting procedure requirement.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Just to finish that answer, and Chief Louie and Chief Bear will step in, the position of the Lands Advisory Board and the resource centre is that any first nation is ready right now the minute it wants to come in. We're not gatekeepers. The regional LAB directors are always recommending first nations that have come to them to say they want in.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I guess one way of answering this would be that perhaps he was thinking less along the lines of capacity, and more on how the government would deal with operational funding and developmental funding. There once was a concern that as more first nations were added the funding level to the successful ones would be reduced, but we're not encountering that.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Or the number of new entrants, as Chief Bear said. I'm just wondering, Mr. Cotler, if perhaps that's what the chief from Ontario was referencing.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There's a cost to host. Over the next three or four years, we'll be working on a way to host ourselves. Right now it's a cost that is cheaper for the group that we're using than for us to undertake it ourselves. Our focus right now is getting the land governance courses up, writing the courselets, and getting funding for next year and that.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Where we will find the cost going down is through acquiring the software needed to write the courselets, so that we don't need to go back to the host group to edit and make comments. We've already put that into the budget this year and for next year. It's a piece of software that Patti and Ruth are using.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's mainly for the operational, although for the developmental first nations that are getting ready to conduct the community vote, there are courselets and materials there to help them. The bulk of the work is to help the operational first nations.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As far as the training is concerned, once the land governance courses are designed, or the courselets, or the meeting place, it wouldn't matter if there were just the current 58 signatories, or the next 18, or the next 100. They would still access the same material. Where the strain would be on resources would be with our staff going out and helping 100 new first nations through the community voting process.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's mainly designed for the framework agreement first nations. We haven't been approached by a first nation that wasn't a signatory asking if they could take parts of it.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We actually gather statistics as well as get feedback. Elizabeth can handle that. They gather them through the source that we use as our server to host all of these—the meeting place, and the VRC. Maybe add some statistics, Elizabeth?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We could answer the University of Saskatchewan to begin with, if you would let us. Both Patti and Ruth have actually taken the course. They could add their comments on that.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to introduce the members of the resource centre staff. The adviser sitting next to Chief Louie is Dr. Elizabeth Childs, capacity-building advisor to the Lands Advisory Board and the resource centre. Sitting next to Dr. Childs is Ms. Patti Wight, a member of Lheidli T'enneh in B.C. and a lands manager with experience.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We use the term CBTPD for capacity-building, training, and professional development. This is the strategy that the Lands Advisory Board and the resource centre have developed over many years. The mandate is to meet the Lands Advisory Board and the First Nations Lands Management Resource Centre's obligations under the framework agreement, specifically 39.1(e).