Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to start off again by thanking the committee for allowing us to be here today. I apologize that our presentation is not translated into French. I do apologize. With more time, we'll make sure that happens in the future.
We've given all of you a kit, and in the kit you'll find the full presentation of my full report, which has more detailed statistics about the rise of GDP and the investment and how it changes the market not only for the Métis but for Canada. You'll also find my speaking notes, which I'll try to keep to 10 minutes, as well as a Calgary chamber study and Métis works. So when you have the opportunity, please take the time to read it.
I'd like to acknowledge our president, Clément Chartier, who is here, and our five provincial Métis affiliates who deliver the ASETS program. We had a meeting here yesterday so this was great timing.
With regard to national Métis women, we have a national Métis women's organization that belongs, in fact, to our Métis National Council board, and provincial Métis affiliates from Ontario west, who are full participants in our governance, in our infrastructure of services. It should also be noted that although my presentation will zero in on the ASETS program pertaining to the Department of Employment and Social Development Canada, the Métis governments of Ontario west to British Columbia deliver a wide spectrum of services, from housing to health programs, to mandated provincial child services, to colleges, to educational and economic development, and so on.
It's down to my speaking notes. There is no more important matter for Métis people than securing a better future for themselves and their families. That is what the aboriginal labour market development is all about. Our presentation is a little too long, so as I said, I put it into speaking notes.
The Métis are one of Canada's aboriginal peoples. Métis are not just mixed bloods, a product of unions between Europeans and first nations. In the territory of the Old Northwest, a region we call the Métis nation homeland today, we constitute a unique people, distinct from both Europeans and first nations—a Métis nation.