I'm not just a pretty face. I sit on the federation. I'm the aboriginal member. I'm president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers here. I sit on the Canadian Labour Congress as an aboriginal member.
What I can say about the cost of living statistics we provided you is that when we look at food, it shows lower inside the Yukon than Canada. We can talk all we want, but here in Whitehorse I can go down and buy a jug of milk for $4.50, generally, but I can go to Old Crow and pay $14 for the same jug of milk. I can go to Ross River and pay $10.
When we start looking at where the aboriginal people are, these are the real figures. We talk about gas. In Whitehorse, we're paying $1.04. You can pay $1.54 inside Dawson, if not more, as well as for heating oil. This is where the aboriginal communities are; this is where the people are.
As far as taking work back to the communities is concerned, just over a year ago Canada Post was looking at shutting down post offices in the north just because of the cost of it. With the help of the Federation of Labour and Mr. Furlong, I went back and took it to the different federations, to the national table. We sat down and drew up letters. We took it to the Assembly of First Nations and to the Prime Minister. We let everybody know what was happening.
Through that pressure, the post offices are going to remain there. Those post offices aren't just places you can get FedEx or Purolator to go into. These are for sending out artisan-type things. These are for receiving goods, receiving food. These are for sending out money orders, even the COD services. It's an essential link on which I think we've made headway. These are the type of things we should be looking at, keeping the work where it is.
I hope I'm not talking too much, but there can be a lot of things there. As I look at the people I've grown up with who have gone to the tar sands to look for work, I watch as people go into these communities and build homes. They bring in plumbers and electricians who set up this home and then they go, and then we bringing people back in. Through people such as Dan Curtis, we're able to maintain somebody inside the community to do this work.
There are lots of things we can go forward with to ensure that these vital things are there. We can talk about medical, police, or other essential services that should be there.
Here we have both the federal government and the YTG, which have lots of employment opportunities, almost at times trying to beg people to come in who are aboriginal, to be taking the work. They also need to be taken into the communities and ensure that these jobs are there.
Thank you.