Thank you.
As Bob has stated, essentially we feel that child welfare represents a case study and that in a sense this is not the only program area that effectively represents a two-tier system of care and a two-tier system of funding.
Since 1997-98 the federal government has retained an overall 2% cap on Indian Affairs funding that relates to off-core services. The cumulative amount of these unrealized INAC funds is estimated at over $10 billion. This cap of funding is really a key factor in the lack of progress that's been made over the last 10 years in terms of closing the gap between first nations and those other statistical measures that represent all Canadian people. In fact our research has shown that recent federal payments under the Canada health and social transfer program have risen at a rate of 6.6%. If you take into consideration the equalization program that have-not provinces receive, that represents a 9.9% increase in 2004 and 8.4% in 2005-06. The 2% cap on first nations budgets means that in a sense we've lost over $10 billion over that period in terms of purchasing power. Those large figures tend to not look real or not show what the impact is at the community level, but just as illustration, at a community level this represents a loss of about 45.5% of existing funds for an average of $1.5 million to $13.9 million at the community level. This is also something that affects not only Indian Affairs--Health Canada has a 3% cap--but in fact there are 33 other government departments that deliver aboriginal programming and this effect is spread over those departments as well.
In terms of a solution, it's very clear that to achieve real and sustainable improvement in terms of not only the child welfare system--and this could be a quick win for the federal government--and other related first nations socio-economic gaps...really it's important that there be opportunities created for first nations citizens to participate in this perspective and competitive economy. To achieve sustainability will be a key element in terms of those program funds as well as to implement structural changes, which we will be happy to discuss as part of the questions.