Thank you, Mr. Chair, and welcome to our guests, particularly Minister Polak. I'm glad to see somebody from British Columbia here.
I'm going to reference a couple of documents. The first document is by the Canadian Council of Provincial Child and Youth Advocates, a report they did for June 23, 2010. In the report they're critical of the data-gathering. In fact, estimates vary because of incomplete or inadequate reporting in information systems. They go on to talk about the number of children in care.
In this same report, they cite British Columbia and they say:
In British Columbia, Aboriginal children are six times more likely to be taken in care than non-Aboriginal Children, and as of March 2010, represent 54% of the province’s In-care child population.
I have a question related to this. The fact that the data-gathering is inadequate likely means that more than 54% of the children in care are of aboriginal ancestry, because the identification processes aren't all that accurate.
When the B.C. Auditor General came before us he said:
Specific to the issue of funding, the audit found that the ministry had not identified the needs and resources required for aboriginal child protection services. It lacked sufficient data on the level of child protection services needed by aboriginal children and their families. It had not been able to determine the staff resources required by aboriginal children and their families.
For these reasons, the ministry was unable to determine the cost of delivering culturally appropriate child welfare services. Nor was it able to develop a persuasive business case to negotiate for both provincial and federal funding. Thus, the ministry was facing funding gaps within these critical labour- and resource-intensive services.
You've indicated that there has been some progress. Has the ministry been able to identify what it costs to deliver culturally appropriate services, and are you confident that your data-gathering reflects an accurate number of aboriginal children in care?