Health committee  Just to answer your question in terms of what's being done to improve the conditions, the lower socio-economic conditions, facing aboriginal people to make healthier choices, definitely from the social programs area, I think that's a very good question in terms of the overall health and well-being of a community.

Health committee  Yes.

Health committee  Finally, on the healthy food and physical activity standards and programs in schools, I think in our last presentation, when we were here in October, we mentioned specific examples of schools and first nations communities that were actively taking health and physical program standards, like those in other jurisdictions--for instance, provincial programs--and incorporating them into their communities.

Health committee  You are asking a very difficult question that's really of a broader nature in terms of the responsibilities of Health Canada and this department: the jurisdictional issue of who is doing what. This is a dilemma that has been faced by both of our departments. What we have been trying to do, though, wherever we could, say, for instance, when we deal with the social determinants of health, is to try to engage both departments in talking about the issues.

Health committee  Okay.

Health committee  Again I will have to get that answer, because unfortunately we don't have any experts here who deal with the children's fitness tax credit. I don't know if our colleagues from Finance could help us with that.

Health committee  Through our infrastructure programs, the department supports recreational centres, community centres, and cultural centres. To date so far--and this is a global figure--we have 732 such centres across the country. But I'll have to get the actual breakdown on how many of them are defined as recreational, cultural, and community centres.

Health committee  With respect to your question on the budget and the amount that goes to the programs, I will have to probably respond at a later date with the details, but I know that over the years our programs have been targeted more at the community level. We have tried to make the appropriate transfers, and a large bulk of it does go to the communities.

Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Robert Eyahpaise and I'm the director of social services and justice, part of the social policy and programs branch at Indian Affairs. I'm here with my colleagues from the northern affairs program. We concur with the focus of the standing committee's report on the need to address the specific circumstances facing aboriginal children and youth, especially when it comes to childhood obesity.