Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I appreciate the opportunity to be here in the aboriginal affairs and northern development committee. I thank my fellow colleagues for the welcome they have given me.
Truly, I appreciate this opportunity. It's my first time to be able to speak to someone who has so much involvement in the future of our aboriginal people. I really do appreciate that.
I'm a school teacher, and in 1976 I had the honour to accompany some government members from the Alberta legislature to the 100th anniversary of the signing of Treaty No. 6. I picked up a little bumper sticker that day, and I proudly displayed that in my classroom. That was the one thing that I took out of my classroom 32 years later.
So I've had the opportunity to deal with a lot of aboriginal youth over my career. I've shared with them some of the joy and some of the anguish as well.
I know that your involvement in education has been extremely significant. Our government has committed $268 million over five years, and $75 million over the next two years, for programs such as the educational partnership program and the first nations student success program.
First, what tools does the Assembly of First Nations use to measure aboriginal student performance? Second, how has your organization received the introduction of these programs, and what role will they have in improving students' performance and educational environments for first nations communities?