Thank you.
I'm here on behalf of our 36 Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, and Passamaquoddy chiefs in Atlantic Canada, from the Gaspé of Quebec, and we have representatives of the Passamaquoddy in Maine in the United States.
Our focus is trying to get out of poverty and really become players in the economy of Atlantic Canada. Our strength is the strength of our people, our language, our culture, our aboriginal and treaty rights, as well as a young and rapidly growing population. Our treaties, which have been recognized and affirmed by the Supreme Court, are paramount in our relationship with provinces, the feds, and municipal governments. Our treaty rights apply to all our people across our traditional territories, including the Mi'kmaq of Newfoundland.
Under our treaties, the Supreme Court of Canada agreed that we have constitutionally protected right of access to the commercial fishery, to obtain a moderate livelihood. But we can't understand why today so many of our people still live in poverty. People living on $74 a week is not a livelihood, and we must take action to address this situation now and for the future.
The Marshall decision in 1999 provided hope for our people and provided much-needed access and economic development for our communities. Our chief vision of the future is to regain the self-reliance we once had in the past. We want to enhance and realize our own economic, social, and cultural objectives through actions of our own design. We envision having vibrant, prosperous, entrepreneurial-minded communities and understand that we must balance development with the right social and economic change. Economic development must be compatible with our people, respectful of the environment, and inform the needs of future generations, ie., sustainable economic development.
Our economic developments must be based on gaining access and control of our traditional land and resources, consistent with our rights, and we expect to be respected partners in all sectors of the Atlantic economy. Today, we have communities like Miawpukek in Newfoundland, St. Mary's in New Brunswick, Tobique in New Brunswick, Lennox Island in P.E.I., Millbrook in Nova Scotia, and Membertou in Cape Breton that are representing the leading edge of rebuilding our economies in our communities.
We really want to get away from dependence, and we really do want to become part of the economy. And we want, basically, to allow our young people from our communities to become the real potential of our future in terms of the economy, and to participate fully in the Atlantic economy in a way that we're contributing a great deal to society in general in Atlantic Canada.
The other issue we have is long-term funding sustainability for our communities. Our communities provide basic services. We need to ensure that long-term sustainability of these programs provided by the federal government be maintained over the next decade, to ensure that we do have the opportunity to become part of the economy and contribute to the future of Canada.
In closing, I want to tell you that the health status of our communities continues to be quite low. Things like hypertension, diabetes, cancers, addictions, and mental health illnesses have become a death sentence for many of our community people. Reductions in certain services, whether it be medical, transportation, eligible prescription drugs, or lack of mental health services, has drastic negative effects in our communities. Both Canadian and international health studies have shown that poverty and poverty conditions correlate to poor health status.
We need jobs, opportunities, education, and an economy to help improve our overall health status. We cannot sentence our children, our young people in our community, to another generation of poverty. And our chiefs, our leaders, and our communities want to contribute greatly to the Atlantic economy and become prosperous Canadian citizens in Canada. We want to contribute our values to everybody else in the country, and we need to do this by building an economic agenda and targeting activities to increase our access to natural resources, to build on the potential of our young people and build a strong, vibrant community for now and into the future.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.