Good afternoon, everybody. I agree with the motion as put forward.
There was a criticism of the Kelowna accord from the minister that there were no plans in place, although there was agreement with the targets and objectives. Key here is that the spirit and intent of the Kelowna accord was to come together and collaborate and jointly develop plans. All they could do at the front end was come together and talk about targets and objectives, talk about funding, and talk about how that relationship can move forward, instead of government going off and developing solutions in isolation.
It's critical that this does move forward in its current form and that we work in collaboration with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people in the development of plans to address housing, education, economic development, and health, as outlined in the Kelowna accord. So I think that's the key here. For example, the AFN talked about a joint policy initiative towards the establishment of a First Nations Auditor General. I think that's a landmark; that's hugely significant. This is a solution by aboriginal people to move forward, and we don't want to move backwards to solutions developed in isolation.