Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the department for coming before us.
I have two questions. I'm going to ask them both and then I'll let you respond.
The first question is around terminology. I noticed in your presentation that sometimes you refer to “aboriginals” and sometimes you refer to “first nations” and “Inuit”. When you refer to something like this, for example, “more than 50% of aboriginal population are under 25 years of age”, or “according to the 2001 Census, 71% of aboriginal identity population...are not on reserve”, my understanding is that your department is responsible for first nations and Inuit. Aboriginal is broader.
I'd like you to comment on that. When you say that 71% of aboriginals live off reserve, that's actually not first nations, so that's a misleading number, in my view.
The second question I have is around consultation. I weeded through a huge amount of material that was kindly prepared for the committee, including the report that was tabled in 1996. Implicit in one of the recommendations was that the department should work together with first nations and financial institutions to develop new arrangements for obtaining capital.
Then there is the 2000 report that talks about finding a departmental mechanism that would ensure all 600 first nations are being adequately represented or that an opportunity for their effective input is provided.
Implicit in the 2004 report was the fact that first nations needed to be included in developing responses.
When I come to your educational action plan under roles and responsibilities--and of course roles and responsibilities, it seems, would hinge on adequate consultation--in your own report it says, “In February 2005, a departmental working group was established to draft a statement....”, and so on. And then:
Dialogue with First Nations will be engaged in order to arrive at a mutually agreed upon statement of respective roles and responsibilities.
I guess what I'd like to know is, what has this consultation process looked like to get us to this point? I understand you have various draft agreements in progress and a policy framework that's going to come forward. What does that consultation process look like, and how have you ensured that 600-plus first nations communities have been adequately represented in this discussion?