Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the minister and your officials for being here today.
I was really pleased to see, Mr. Minister, that on the second page of your comments today you highlighted the five priorities in terms of moving ahead. Economic development and land claims are certainly two high priorities for this committee. We've discussed them numerous times in the past year. We've heard from first nations communities that have incredible success stories in terms of economic development.
But we also recognize that often economic development is hampered by a lack of agreement around land claims issues. So I think the bringing together of economic development priorities and Bill C-30, the Specific Claims Tribunal Act, is really a key factor in moving ahead.
I understand that in the supplementary estimates there is approximately $31 million--you pointed out in your comments here--set aside for the Nunavik land claims agreement. To me it seems that this is a way to move ahead for this entire community, in terms of economic development. But recently it's come to my attention that this bill is in the Senate and it's possibly being held up there. I think that's very unfortunate.
Could you just elaborate on the kind of economic development that could happen and whether or not we could move ahead more quickly on this land claims agreement and get it finalized through the Senate?