Thank you very much.
You've raised some very important issues here today. I think they will be helpful in our report.
One of them, as Antonia, Michael, and others have raised, is the issue of funding. For such a long period of time, every time we talked about a greater financial role by the federal government, we were dismissed as tax-and-spend individuals, when all the system really needed was innovation and reform, but that didn't mean more money. It seems to me that we have a situation in which federal transfers to the provinces still haven't got us up to a 25% partnership. As long as that's the case, it's pretty hard to advance a reform agenda.
Nowhere I think is that more apparent than when it comes to aboriginal, first nations, and Inuit peoples. I know that along with this main accord there was a separate accord signed on September 13, 2004. It committed to substantially increase the resources from the federal government to Inuit and first nations communities. I haven't been able to find out where that money is, other than in the last budget. The only significant health care announcement--and it's not even significant--was $147 million over two years for something about integration between health systems.
I need to know what is really happening and what we should be recommending, since we are talking about one of the most neglected areas, and seeing the most in terms of costs to the system, whether it's for mental health issues, suicide, addictions, you name it.
Why don't you start?