Thank you for the question.
There are two things--first, education.
I just have to go back to grade eight and grade nine, when I used to hang my head in shame sitting behind a textbook because I learned about the savages, the Indians, attacking all the poor settlers on the land. People don't have an appreciation, a proper education, with respect to the treaty rights, particularly here in the Atlantic region. That's through the education system.
I raise that point because it's important. Look at the troubles we're having with the waters--with the Burnt Church issue, with the Marshall decision--or in the woods over natural resources. We have many conflicts today that are derived from the misunderstanding and improper education that people are getting with respect to treaties.
The second point I want to raise is with respect to our aboriginal youth. As I told the premiers, while they're out there with their immigration policies and repatriating, on the reserves our chiefs are passing around condoms because our birth rates are so high. That's a fact. The demographics are there. They're in place. We have the fastest growing population in the Atlantic region, and right cross Canada, in terms of first nations. What we need to do is focus on that.
The people in my community who are 35-plus, let them.... We have the seasonal employment programs there for them, fisheries and everything else. There's not much I can do about changing their lives or their careers at this point in time, except just making those programs available. But I have this young group coming up. They're the ones we have to focus on. It's not just in terms of post-secondary education; it's in the trades as well. We need to focus on that young group that's coming up, educate them, and train our workforce. We have that workforce potential in the backyard here.
Those are the two points I'll make about that.
Thank you.