Thank you, Mr. Chair. I may be splitting some of my time with Mr. Albrecht.
I would like to thank all of the witnesses today for some great testimony. We've had excellent witnesses throughout this process, and I'd like to commend you all today.
The last week has been an exciting time for us as a government. As I look at the political accord that we actually did sign with the AFN, one part of that accord has actually been fulfilled in terms of the treaty conference that occurred last week in Saskatoon. This was something that was promised in the accord and delivered last week. I took part in that conference, and it was an exciting opportunity to hear many of the suggestions and issues from many of the treaty chiefs across our country.
The question I'd like to start with, though, is in part in relation to some of the misinformation that is perhaps being put into the record by some of my colleagues opposite. There is, I think, a lot of sentiment that suggests that a cap is somehow a bad thing. The argument I've been making all along is that by having a cap of $150 million, it allows for not only the tribunal to focus on the great number of smaller claims that exist, but also allows for the federal government to be able to put its focus on the very large claims. And not only that, but by removing the cap, one could argue that the large claims might eat up the entire $250 million that has been allotted to this tribunal, and none of the smaller claims would in fact get resolved, and, again, we would be in the same situation we are right now with nearly 1,000 claims.
Mr. Atleo, would you concur that this type of logic works well within this concept of having a cap, of course, provided that there is the political will to resolve the larger outstanding claims?