Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, Mr. Roy. It is good to see you again.
And to our other witnesses, it's my first time, I believe, meeting you this morning.
I want to go back to the comprehensive claims implementation process. As you know, this is an ongoing matter. Since becoming critic, I've met with a couple of groups, the Nisga'a in particular, who have experienced difficulty with their fiscal financial arrangements and the negotiations that have been ongoing for some years. They're telling me that they're having to borrow from other pots of funding in order to pay for the core services and operations, which puts a bit of a strain on their particular community.
I talked to some people from the Inuit regions. There are some outstanding issues around implementation there as well. Basically, their sense is that the crown is not honouring its legal obligations under the modern treaties. I'm just wondering if the department is not undertaking some review and a different approach to the implementation of comprehensive claims, with a view to making them much more efficient and also with a view to honouring the crown's obligations.
I understand the difficulty, because under a number of different agreements you have the Department of Fisheries and Oceans handling something, and you might have the Department of Health involved, so there's a whole range of departments out there and I'm wondering if there's a different approach happening.
As well, I was wondering if you can give me a brief update on something very close to home, the Innu Nation Agreement, or New Dawn Agreement, which was announced with the province last fall. I understand they're back at the negotiating table, but I'm wondering where the federal presence is at. Have you resolved all federal issues relative to the Innu Nation claim, and what kind of timetable are we looking at?
Of course, there's also--and it's not a new one, Mr. Roy, we've talked about it many times--the Labrador Métis Nation claim, which was originally submitted in 1990 and was resubmitted in 1995. There was supposed to be a reconciliation process since 2002. Under that agreement there was supposed to be an independent legal opinion conducted. I'm wondering if there has been agreement reached between the Labrador Métis Nation and the federal government about the parameters to that independent legal opinion. As you know, there were some outstanding issues there.
I'm wondering if you can comment on those issues. Thank you.