Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I want to say that I support Ms. Raitt's comments on the importance of the minister's presence at the committee. We would not go so far as to talk about contempt of the committee, as can happen in the United States. Nevertheless his presence is extremely important in terms of accountability and the work we do here, which is much more independent than what we do in the House of Commons.
I would like to begin with the Assembly of First Nations.
Welcome to the committee.
I have lot of questions to ask you, but I will limit myself to three. I will group them all together.
As you mentioned, spending on education was capped in 1996, some 20 years ago, by the government of the time.
Can you tell us what amounts should have been spent between 1996 and 2016 to meet the education needs and costs of the first nations? What are the amounts that were not spent over those 20 years? If we had kept pace with the increase in the cost of education, what amount should be spent in 2016-2017, in your opinion?