Thank you very much, Ms. Hugenholtz Sherk.
Mr. Roy, thank you very much for your presentation. Your requests are very reasonable, as they were last year, and we have had the chance to talk during the year. We certainly know how important festivals and culture are in Canada. They are not only good for the mind, but also create good jobs and stimulate our economy. We agree on that.
My main questions are for the Assembly of First Nations and ACCRU,
the Alliance of Canadian Comprehensive Research Universities.
While I clearly understood the assembly's testimony, it raises the need to ensure that indigenous youth have the same resources and the same individual subsidy that other children get to go to school.
As to ACCRU, its request for an increase in funding to sustain our institutions that subsidize research is in the same category. Canada has really fallen behind in the past decade, and even before then. We need more money to be more competitive with other countries around the world.
Chief Poitras, please explain the importance of guaranteeing that indigenous students receive the same funding as other students, and what that will mean not only for the indigenous community, but for all of Canada?