Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  You are right that the department invests in First Nations or Inuit so that the leaders of these communities can help their students and members accede to a post-secondary education. This post-secondary education is done almost exclusively in provincial or territorial institutions, with a few exceptions, including the First Nations University in Saskatchewan.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Perhaps Monsieur Caron will respond.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll perhaps start with the last one, and my colleagues and I will share the other questions. In terms of school boards, or school board-like or aggregate services, there are bodies out there now providing these services. The department provides several million dollars annually for support through these bodies for school board-like services—not a full system, but significant support.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It takes place nationally in fora such as Madame Paré talked about, at times with formal engagements through joint committees that the AFN and we may have together; it takes place at the regional level between officials of the department in a given region, as in Saskatchewan, along with the aboriginal leadership in that province.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That is a very prominent factor. It will figure in the research work I mentioned earlier that's going on here into the spring of 2007, in terms of the cost analysis that is going to be done, in terms of developing an appropriate funding formula and looking at enhancements to the current funding approach, and in terms of the basic quanta and volume challenges that are before us.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In general, funding agreements with first nations are multi-purpose funding agreements. A first nation will have moneys for social programs, education, and a whole series of things. Within those agreements, certain base obligations have to be met. They have to be accounted for, they're subject to audits, and they're reported to the department.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Last week the Auditor General was asked--I think it may have been at the other committee--about auditing the Accountability Act and auditing first nations. The Auditor General indicated that the broad areas of activity are subject to independent audit through our funding agreements, so there are audits in place, and the department has the benefit of the outcomes of those audits.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Absolutely. Yes, we'd be glad to identify people you may be interested in. We'd be very pleased to provide information to the committee.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In answer to your first question, by and large the discretion rests with first nations leadership in the community.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The band council and the school administrating body, but these communities and these smallish schools face very considerable challenges because there is the factor of isolation. There is little, if any, secondary school system support. There are some tribal council or other services that provide some support but very rare instances of anything that would approximate what we know as the full school board type of system.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Perhaps I will say a little bit about the first question. I would ask my colleague, Line Paré, to elaborate on the second point, because she's working closely with it. I certainly hope we haven't misled anyone. We certainly don't want to mislead in our various uses of “aboriginal” versus “first nation”.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. With that, I will ask Line to respond on your second point.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Our interpretation is that there is nothing in the act that requires a contribution at the post-secondary level, and that there is nothing in the act that limits the possibility of contributing at the post-secondary level. The government determines its priorities and ensures the considerable amounts of money are well invested.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Indeed, it is discretionary.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  You are right that it is not generalized. It takes several shapes. A little earlier, I gave the example of Nova Scotia. In that case, the priority is on certification, numbers, standards, etc. The conditions in the contribution contracts signed between the department and the first nations on education, we also deal with the need for standards and talk about compatibility with provincial standards.