Back in our communities, at the end of the day, it's the first nations communities themselves that have to find money to fund the inefficiency levels. It seems to us anyway at the tribal council level that.... Even this tribal council had two-thirds of its funding cut two years ago. We've had to still provide essential services to our communities. The very same thing goes for the students who are out and away from the communities. The bands themselves have to find resources to provide essential services to our communities.
It's a good thing that young people want to go to school. It would be sad if we didn't have the demand. I think it's a good thing that a lot of young people want to continue school, to leave their communities, those who can, and pursue post-secondary education. I think that's a good thing. As I said, our inability to address those demands, or expectations, has been frustrating. The wait list...and we continue to defer many of those students until later. We have just not been able to meet their demands.
Of course, tuition costs continue to rise, and our funding levels continue to stay the way they have been for years now. It just affects our ability to provide the services that these students expect. They look at other students who are funded from elsewhere, and the two levels of support services are not comparable at all.