Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much for your comment and question. On the comment, I have never been shy about being called a radical or not. As a young leader--the youngest leader in this country, national-wise anyway--I can say it's time for change. I'm personally sick and tired of the rhetoric.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for your question. First, as I indicated, we have provincial affiliated organizations across Canada, which are themselves comprised of off-reserve communities. The smaller communities scattered across the province form an aboriginal group. There can be registered, non-registered or Métis members.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, no.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Just before my colleague answers, we did meet with Minister Prentice and we touched upon education, but I guess the priority was more along the lines of other discussions we had.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Allow me to clarify the structure of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples. We are the national organization, and we have provincial affiliated organizations. Most members across Canada are familiar with the existence of our provincial organizations. I won't talk about the financial capacity of these organizations, because it's very minimal.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  On that point, it might have been my lack of clarity on the issue, but what I was foreseeing was that if there were to be any federal transfers of money to the provinces for education, what we would like to see and need to see for the benefit of the off-reserve population in this country is to ensure accountability measures are structured into those transfers, one, so those moneys are indeed spent on education issues and not for any other reason, and two, to ensure that our provincial affiliates across the country are fully engaged in discussions as to how the money will be spent and how the programs will be implemented.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for your questions. First, I'd like to clarify something. You talked bout aboriginal people living on and off-reserve. It should be known that 51% of aboriginal people in Canada live off-reserve. We defend the rights and interests of aboriginal people living off-reserve, whether they be Métis or first nation people.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I believe the definition of the different peoples in Canada already exists. However, the perception or understanding of people may be lacking. We try to educate people with respect to the terms and statistics I addressed earlier. We believe the centre should be set up so as to have different representatives of the federal and provincial governments, as well as representatives of the five recognized national aboriginal organizations.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I guess the first step would be to begin a dialogue between federal, provincial, and aboriginal organizations with respect to how we utilize the funds to do the best with those funds. I'm very cognizant of this, that we should all respect the Constitution, but at the same time, we have to be real with ourselves in recognizing that the Constitution is also providing a lot of problems with respect to the aboriginal population in this country in terms of who is responsible for what.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm not sure. What exactly do you mean by “other”, the national organizations?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Absolutely. Leading up, for example, to the Kelowna meeting of last November, we had a series of meetings with the Native Women's Association of Canada, not just on education but on wide variety of issues, which led to a protocol agreement signed between the congress and NWAC a month and a half ago.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Absolutely. We've begun a series of discussions with different groups across the country. As a matter of fact, it's not just on education, but the message we're trying to convey and getting others on board into conveying that message.... Let's take post-secondary education, for example.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for your question. With respect to obligations in terms of the off-reserve population in this country, it has always been the struggle that the federal government has jurisdiction for status Indians living on-reserve only, yet when one moves off the reserve, they're deemed to become under provincial jurisdiction.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Very well. Thank you very much. Before I get to the presentation, I'd like to say that, unfortunately, we only had English copies made because of a lack of resources for translation. I'm told that they will be on your desks in a couple of days. Mr. Chairman, let me first thank you and the committee.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Let me thank you and the committee for the decision to provide an early focus in this Parliament on aboriginal education. I know that it's a priority of the new government and a great concern for all aboriginal leaders, all of our organizations, and all of our communities. We don't have a lot of time today, so I want to try to focus on key issues and questions to prompt the start of a new dialogue between us, as aboriginal representatives and as representatives of Canada's formal political structure of government.