Thanks very much.
As you know, this committee is studying land management at this time. It seems odd that, based on the two letters that have come to the committee from the Onion Lake First Nation and the Penticton Indian Band, some people think this is a good idea but others are quite offended. Many of the people we've talked to, as my colleague has said, say there was no prior discussion on this matter—no meetings, no consultation—and see it as a violation of their treaty rights to have imposed changes to the Indian Act without their consultation.
As the director general of the community opportunities branch, can you explain how it can happen that we sully the relationship with first nations, ending up with these top-down decisions that they had no say in and weren't even aware of? They didn't even get an information session this time, as opposed to what usually masquerades as consultation. They got a letter saying this is what's happening.
To go back to the UN declaration concerning “free, prior and informed consent”, how do you do your job in terms of relationships with communities when this kind of stuff happens?