Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the witnesses for being here today.
As Madam Crowder mentioned, I was the chair who tabled the report “No Higher Priority”, on post-secondary education for aboriginal Canadians. One of the findings of the report was that aboriginals who attained grade 12 had the same outcomes, as far as moving on to post-secondary education, as non-aboriginals in Canadian society, but it was getting the aboriginal student to get to grade 12. One of the issues identified, especially with males, was the lack of interest, and maybe the challenges within the school system for them.
I'm not offended by somebody having to go to another area to get the courses or the training they need. Even the non-aboriginal people where I lived in Yukon did that. A lot of the issues we have today in some of the more isolated aboriginal communities, especially in northern Ontario, come from the lack of opportunity. They are isolated. There is maybe no resource development happening in their area. So there is very little hope. There has to be some mobility.
I'm wondering if any thought has been given to looking at the opportunity to help aboriginal students in the senior grades of the grade school move to other communities where there are opportunities for skills training or for certain courses not available in their community.