Thank you.
I would like to start by saying I'm a little shocked by some of the statements made by the minister. I am an aboriginal woman. I come from a first nations community. I've worked extensively with first nations communities. Some of the statements made, especially around the decision by the government to cancel funding on the first nations and Inuit tobacco control strategy, lead me to think that there should have been consultation with first nations and Inuit people before that decision was made.
Certainly, I have to say that one of the key health determinants has to be about this conciliatory process, about consultation, and about self-determination. In fact, self-determination probably is one of the most important key health determinants, and we're talking about equity.
We've heard presentations by the AFN that only 4% of the program funding under FNIHB actually gets to the communities, that there are funding caps that are inequitable to funding transfers for the provinces. The former Liberal government had worked with great effort to develop a process with first nations and Inuit and Métis people to ensure there was a collaborative process in place to close the gap on these health crises. I'm not sure how the minister thinks that $38.1 million could possibly compare to $1.3 billion.
Calling this pilot project a wait times guarantee on basic health care--basic health care that Canadians enjoy--for ten communities from out of more than 600 communities is a strong point as well. I think that part of the Kelowna accord and part of the 2004 health accord on aboriginal health, the blueprint on aboriginal health, was to ensure that there were measures in place to have adequate basic health care services for aboriginal people.
I would like to ask a question of the minister on a public health issue, because in my riding we have faced a public health crisis over the last year, and in fact—