Hello.
Thank you for the question. I'm sorry, but I speak very little French.
In Inuit communities, there's often a lack of employment opportunities due to the size of the community. We have also been concerned about oil and gas exploration and development, because of the boom and bust cycle of a lot of these exploration projects. We know from our perspective, having done some qualitative research in partnership with the University of British Columbia, that unless there's adequate advance planning in consultation with the community to anticipate some of these other social issues that may be worsened, such as violence against women, substance abuse, and STBBIs.... There is a need for this advance planning before a site becomes active.
This also gives me an opportunity to touch upon a previous question. It has been some time since I've read the research, but there was research done around economic development and cultural match, and I believe it was at Harvard, the Kennedy School of Government. I've had the pleasure of meeting the researchers, but it was a number of years ago. I would encourage the committee to look at this research. It speaks to best practice. Whether it's oil and gas, or forestry, or fishery, trying to develop new economies, or working with indigenous peoples, cultural match is a critical component of success. Whether the match is language or culture, whatever that match must be for a particular community or peoples, it can be a real contribution to success.