Thank you for the question, Mr. Bains.
To me, there's a need for clarity. I think a previous committee member asked a question about who makes a determination of who holds the list, who authorizes the lists and who legitimizes or validates the list holders. I think that's the crux of it. It's now a shift from the lists themselves to the authorizations around list holders.
I think that's where we come in. From the perspective of the Manitoba Métis Federation, as a self-governing nation with a well-established business directory that is verified and validated, we are looking for that step of acknowledgement by Canada to say, “Yes, we authorize and recognize that the list holder is solid as an indigenous government and from a process perspective.”
I think that's the next step that needs to be taken. It's to ensure—again, to the previous committee member's point—that the federal department procurement officer, who's looking at that contract and at businesses to contract with, has access to what has been pre-established by a recognized list of business directory holders.