Thank you for your presentation today.
I've got two questions. I'm going to ask them both because they're in two separate areas.
One is on indigenous children in care. A recent report came out of British Columbia on the B.C. children and youth review by the Honourable Ted Hughes. In his report, he specifically indicated that the federal government funding for reserve-based child welfare services was developed at a time when there was not as much emphasis on prevention as there is today. Calculated largely on the basis of the number of children taken into care, it provides little or no funding for the kinds of family support services.
As well, I understand that the first nations child and family services agencies have long said--and I believe the department has acknowledged--there is a discrepancy in the funding between what many provinces provide and what the federal government provides. So I'd like you to talk about what the federal government is doing about that.
The second question is around specific land claims. You may not be able to provide this information today, but I would be interested in knowing how many claims are presently in the department system, the average number of new claims that have been filed in the last three years, and the number of claims that have been settled in the last three years. So that's some really specific information that you may or may not have.
I am also curious about whether it's an urban legend or actually true that a number of first nations that are in various stages of negotiations have indicated that they need to borrow significant funds in order to settle either treaties or land claims. Many of these land claims drag on for a number of years, which often leads people to not be in the position to actually take advantage of whatever settlement there might be. So I just wonder if you'd comment on whether that is common practice.