I'm from Curve Lake. I want my nation to do well. I think people in urban communities need some focus as well. I think one of the great successes of the Kelowna accord...we were not delighted with the outcomes because we felt it didn't deal with urban enough. That single aboriginal woman in downtown Winnipeg wouldn't have been helped all that well by having aboriginal school boards or Métis-specific curriculum. I think those are great things, but we wouldn't have seen more practical service delivery on the ground. I think it would have come over time.
I think what was really important about that process is that 14 jurisdictions agreed to an action plan. Really. And then aboriginal communities, the national aboriginal organizations, agreed. It was a long time coming. Now we can dispute some of the particulars of the accord, but I think the principle of working together, coming together and saying yes, here it is, here's how we're going to move forward... There's going to be another conference on this issue eventually. What government does, what priorities...will economic development and accountability be the priority and not education? Will it be health? It will differ, but something needs to be done, and that is true reconciliation.
When we met with Associate Chief Judge Murray Sinclair and talked about residential schools, I said the irony is what truth, what reconciliation would be is reconstituting the aboriginal peoples of this country who have been decimated by the first 150 years of this country. What would that mean? That would mean something like Kelowna. That would mean significant investments and partnerships whereby Canada, the provinces, the nation governments, and ideally the service providers and others who have a role in this would come together and say this is how we're going to solve these problems together.
I think that was the value of Kelowna, which was different. It was more of a collaborative approach, and I think that kind of thing would have tremendous value.