Thank you.
I have the distinct privilege of serving the largest first nations reserve in Canada. One of the things that I'm beginning to realize is that they are very progressive in their thought, yet very poor in looking after their own people. I spent a considerable amount of time before I got to Ottawa, and since then, speaking with specific individuals from that reserve, and they tell me something different from what we hear in the mainstream.
This may ruffle a few feathers, but they never tell me that the conditions on the reserve are tied to residential schools. They never tell me that they're tied to their history. They're telling me they're tied to how they're not being looked after now on their reserve, by their own people. That's their disconnect.
When I talk to the youth, they've lost hope. Even the adults have lost hope. It isn't because of their history. Some of it's tied to the loss of culture. I get that, and I respect it; I think there's an element of that. But it's about their own people not looking after their own people. That's what they tell me.
I'm interested to hear you speak about the way forward, and the best way forward is a collaborative approach. How do you see that playing out? How does that roll out? How does that actually look on the ground in the Blood reserve when you're going to be playing out some of these mental health issues to help poverty reduction, potentially with a group of elected officials who don't always provide the resources? They have lots of them; they just don't transfer those to the people who need it the most.
How do you do a collaborative approach in those sorts of environments?