I had finished my opening comment, and I made it because this is the first of a series of hearings and I wanted to put our overall view on the table. I was about to come to the witnesses, which I will now do.
I'd like to direct my question to AFN. I've had some involvement with your leader, Phil Fontaine, over the years, having written a paper before I got into politics called The Cost of Doing Nothing and having followed and supported your activities over these years. My question has to do with the Kelowna accord.
Here, at least, was inaction that did something. We talk about the cost of doing nothing. The Kelowna accord did something, at $5 billion over five years. I guess my question to you is whether you can explain to the committee, in human terms, the cost to your community of not proceeding with the Kelowna accord. Also, more specifically, if we had proceeded with the Kelowna accord, the specific issue you raised today might have been addressed through that accord.