Thank you, Mr. Chair.
As executive director of the treaty land entitlement committee, I'm directly involved in implementing settled claims. I use that word loosely, the term “settled”. From a first nations perspective, we like to use the word “settled” after the land has been returned and after all the obligations have been met.
The Manitoba framework agreement was signed in 1997. Currently we have 469 parcels of land that have been selected, and those go towards satisfying the 1.1 million acres. Of the 469 parcels, 54 have been converted. So we've been in operation for about 11 years, and we are 11% complete. This is, right now, on behalf of the signatory 15 first nations. I wanted to share that with the committee.
We have a lot of work to do. When you speak to claims, that, in my mind, is phase one, possibly, as a validation of a claim. There's a lot of work to do in phase two, as well, and then onward to development of the lands and management, and so on.
I just wanted to bring those numbers to light.
Thank you.