Human Resources committee  Saskatchewan is going to be focusing on the practice of unlearning. Let's unlearn everything we have been taught. I'm going to be invigorating an entrepreneurial mindset. The students or the participants will walk away with an opportunity portfolio that's relevant to them. It could be addressing social issues.

Human Resources committee  Thank you for the question. It's actually something that's near and dear to my heart. I have been a board member of Vancouver Native Housing, which is an urban aboriginal social housing provider in Vancouver, for the last 14 years, and I can tell you that there have been points in time where I have looked at our waiting list, and I know that it has over 6,000 people.

Human Resources committee  It's very high.

Human Resources committee  I mean very high like almost all.

Human Resources committee  Absolutely. I see that kind of scenario every single day. What that indigenous youth probably could have done differently is to communicate to his funding officer within the band, which he probably did not do. Unfortunately, bands don't have enough money to put through all of their members who want to take training and post-secondary training, so they have to make really hard decisions.

Human Resources committee  Absolutely. It's definitely a problem.

Human Resources committee  Absolutely. Any initiative in that direction would be a positive initiative. As well, I think it would be a positive thing to also ensure that it's communicated to individuals in those communities. Often, there's a disconnect. You'll see businesses that are started at the band level but not necessarily by individual entrepreneurs.

Human Resources committee  Absolutely. If you want to see change, that's the exact change we need to see happen, because there is a disincentive to actually earn money, to incrementally earn more money. That's the kind of sea change we need to see.

Human Resources committee  It depends on where the individual is from, but yes, it is.

Human Resources committee  I wouldn't be able to give you that percentage. I don't know that off the top of my head. Some communities have been very successful in doing something called a certificate of possession, which allows them to unlock the potential in their reserve holdings, but I would not be able to give you that percentage.

Human Resources committee  I hear about those kinds of situations all the time. The irony here is that those who are most marginalized and want to start a small business will often get turned away. They don't have any financial access to credit to start their small businesses, even from the aboriginal financial lending institutions, because they're just that risky.

Human Resources committee  I'm sorry I don't have an easy answer for you.

Human Resources committee  Yes, I am.

Human Resources committee  Based on my experience working with first nations in British Columbia, each community is unique. Each community is on a spectrum of, on one end, completely against resource development, and on the other end, is in active pursuit of development. Communities can fall anywhere on that spectrum.

Human Resources committee  I would just point out that the context in British Columbia is very different from what we see across Canada. Generally in British Columbia, because of the lack of treaties in some areas, I think industry is more attuned to the opportunities for and the necessity of working with aboriginal communities, but that's not necessarily so across Canada.