Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and committee members, for having us here.
I'm pleased to be joined by my friend and colleague, the regional chief for British Columbia, Jody Wilson-Raybould, as well as by Jennifer Brennan, one of our senior officials from the Assembly of First Nations.
Yes, indeed, I have just come back from a really important, effective, and successful first nations mission to China. I saw a news report today about an archeological find in Yukon: a coin that is something like 350 years old. That references the fact that first nations and the people of China have trade that goes back a long ways.
We raised a totem pole in one province, in a town where they had lost many people to a tragic earthquake, a real tragedy, back in 2008. It was very much a cultural exchange. It was one of mutual support, recognition, and understanding, but it was also about education, and it was about trade.Thank you very much for mentioning that.
That brings us to our purpose here today, which is to offer up some reflections and, as you say, Mr. Chair, engage in a conversation. I'd like to take, if I may, eight or ten minutes to provide some opening thoughts.