Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome to the minister and his staff.
Being a member of this committee has given me a lot of opportunities to hear voices from across the country. We've been travelling. We've had witnesses. We've heard a lot of issues raised and a lot of concerns brought forward. As a member of Parliament who represents a jurisdiction that has a large indigenous population—over half of my riding is indigenous—I was really impressed by the number of indigenous people who have appeared in front of us and talked to us about their concerns and reminded us of a number of things. I think there's a real sense of opportunity out there, after many years of not moving on a lot of the issues that face us.
Some of the things they reminded us of were that we need to create the mechanisms to allow indigenous people to be self-governing, that we need transformative change, and that we need to stop fighting in the courts. For the most part, I think we've done that. They were also there to remind us that indigenous people and non-indigenous people are in this together. I think that message is one we hear at all venues we attend where there are aboriginal people.
I was really pleased to see that this bill makes several amendments that would improve the fiscal capacity of first nations peoples on reserve. However, as you know, in the north, our indigenous people are structured a little differently. These changes might not be directly applicable to them.
Could you speak about how Bill C-86 would enhance economic reconciliation? As we talk about reconciliation, we always hear, and it's very clear, that there can be no reconciliation without economic reconciliation.
Could you talk a bit about the next steps that the government will take to ensure that all indigenous communities, including the ones in my riding and from coast to coast to coast, can strengthen their fiscal management systems? I think there's been a lot of work done in this area in the last while.