Finance committee  Certainly, the intents and interests behind that are common. As I say, I think there need to be a few different paths forward for it, but certainly there is no argument about the basic interest. That's part of it. The other part is the transformation of the relationship has very

Finance committee  We're saying that education from kindergarten to grade 12 is the foundation for that. We think that's important, and then, as we said in our pre-budget submission, skills training and development certainly are key parts to this, as is post-secondary education. Without the base, t

Finance committee  Thank you for the comment. I would make a couple of follow-up points. One is that, in recognizing the situation that exists, part of what is required is transforming the relationship. That's what we're suggesting, as well, in terms of the fiscal relationship. But it's also about

Finance committee  I want to point out that the plan or proposal by Mr. Jules occupies a certain percentage of the spectrum and that there are other possibilities within the First Nations Land Management Act, which would also accomplish similar or equivalent benefits. There are different ways and d

Finance committee  Yes, I just have a brief comment. Education is very clearly one of the primary determinants of well-being, and that's why one of our areas of emphasis is for investments to be made in education and skills training. That will pay off many times over. if you look at what the cumu

Finance committee  Thank you. We have done a detailed pre-budget submission, and I would refer the committee to it. But I would say that there has been a clearly identified gap in the need for water. I believe it's $6.85 billion. It was done through a very detailed engineering report. An additiona

Finance committee  Thank you. I'll give a brief answer, and others may have something to contribute. My understanding is that there was a commitment to achieve educational improvements but not the resources to implement them. What we are calling for in this budget are the resources to accompany th

Finance committee  I don't think there was a specific financial commitment contained in the budget. It was more on the principle of improving that educational attainment interest.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Our presentation is called “Structural Transformation and Critical Investments in First Nations on the Path to Shared Prosperity”. First nations communities and individuals are poised to make ever-increasing contributions to the overall economic prosperi

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I would say that dialogue with communities, effective transition planning, and communications at the top are key.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I would think in addition to looking at nutrition, if you look at the programs available to our youth in schools and the facilities that are related to that, you'll see that those don't measure up to those in the south. I would say that in addition to that, we are launching and t

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The food mail program was basically on the verge of extinction or modification several times over the last 10 to 15 years. Really looking at this as a stable funding base will enable you to look at this program differently—to look at how it should be grown, perhaps, and how it ca

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll just make a quick comment. There's no doubt that the program has an impact on the Inuit, but I would add that our information is that in terms of population, about 47% of the folks using the program are first nations. It's a significant program for both the Inuit and first n

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'd talk to the communities that were using the system. The other piece is, for example, about the ones that are no longer eligible for the food mail. I think it would be interesting to find out why. I think that would tell you just as much as the other.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Just a comment that one possibility is to have a transition period and some transition planning to support what is clearly a set of good goals. In our case, we would say that first nations communities really should be involved in helping to deal with and overcome some of the is