Well, thank you, Mr. Battiste. I would also like to thank you for your advocacy on this and for helping to educate people on this issue. It is a very big issue.
As I've said many times, if there were a simple solution to this long-standing issue, it would have been solved 21 years ago, but there is not. It's very complex. One challenge we face is the whole idea of defining what a moderate livelihood is. I feel that is one of the biggest things we're dealing with. It's different for everybody. What a moderate livelihood is in one community is very different from what a moderate livelihood is in another community. What we need to do, as the Crown or as the government, is to make sure we're listening to those communities.
As you've said, we need to find a path forward for the next 200 years. That path forward has to include first nations communities. I think that for too long we have, over years, built systems that did not include them, and we need to make sure that we do. As we go forward it's going to be extremely important for us to listen to all of the communities involved. Every one of them has a different thought on what a moderate livelihood looks like.
I've been told many times or asked many times, “Why don't you just define the right and then it's done?” I don't think the first nations communities want the Government of Canada to tell them what their moderate livelihood right is. This is something that has to come from the first nations. This is something that has to come through the negotiations. This is something that has to come from ongoing conversations. That is what I am absolutely committed to doing. I see that the only way for us to move forward is through those conversations.