Welcome to our witnesses.
I'm not usually on this committee. I'm the health critic for the NDP. I'm subbing in because there are a lot of health issues that are coming up today, and I want to focus on them.
In particular, I'd like to follow up with Grand Chief Picard. You raised a lot of issues, but I will focus on the issues having to do with health and wellness. Finally, after many years of advocacy and lobbying, there is now a joint study of the non-insured health benefits, which is a federal responsibility. It just started recently, after the AFN called for it for years. Could you give us an update as to how that's going or what you hope the outcomes will be?
Also, I'm very concerned to see the list of programs due to sunset in 2015. They're all critical programs. I can't imagine the anxiety it causes the organizations, worrying about whether they're going to be able to continue. Could you tell us a little more about the impact, should there not be any continued funding? I could name a couple. A major one is the aboriginal diabetes initiative, for example, which we heard about earlier.
I'd also like to ask Mr. Kirby a question, if there's a couple of minutes left.
Grand Chief, could you talk about the non-insured health benefits partnership?