I think there are a couple of parts to that. One is that part of the plan for accountability for results is really to develop as well a whole series of different approaches that contribute to accountability. One of the ideas that is important within that is mutual accountability--that the department is as responsible for good outcomes at the community level as we are, and further, that communities are directly responsible for their citizens and should be transparent in terms of fully accounting for the resources that are received on their behalf.
Under that we have a number of initiatives that are key to a sustainable and continued accountability process. A key part of that is reporting--but relevant reporting. What is envisioned is that we take a look at those reports in order to streamline them so that they can be really useful--eliminating numbers of reports and coalescing into more outcome-style reporting, so that what we are doing is more effective in terms of communicating.
We also have initiatives under way to develop and implement financial management standards. There are some very interesting developments and institutions. The first nations finance association is developing a whole model and certification process for community financial officers. This is an important part of the capacity building that is a key to effective accountability, as well.
We also have developed ideas about an ombudsman, which would be an important way to assure that important information is collected with respect to potential allegations of service, to deal with those in a straightforward and clear way and to accurately report on those. We see that as a benefit to all levels of government in terms of clarity and making sure the facts of individual instances are very well looked at, as well as looking at how to restructure the actual process of payments so that it actually makes sense.
I would also ask my colleagues to address any areas that I may have not covered.