The Manitoba chiefs commissioned a report about two or three years ago that called welfare a “right of passage” for aboriginal young people. They marked it as the key problem, the key obstacle, to encouraging aboriginal young people to pursue education and training. In this country, we are among the last in the western world to look at major reforms of our welfare delivery systems, particularly on reserves. Have you any views, has your organization any views—or any of the panellists—in respect of what possible reforms could be undertaken to remove this right-of-passage mentality and encourage further education and training to be pursued by aboriginal young people in this country?
On October 5th, 2006. See this statement in context.