Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank the witnesses for coming before the committee.
I want to acknowledge the students as well. It's important that the young people, who are the future leaders, are here to witness and perhaps also raise some questions for their own leadership.
First of all, I want to thank you for your very thorough document. You raised a couple of important points in your testimony.
One of the points is around implementation and funding. I know we've had previous experience where funds haven't necessarily been attached.... I mean, they're never incorporated in a bill, but funds haven't been agreed upon when legislation has been passed, or in the implementation phase when things haven't run as expected. We only need to look to the Land Claims Agreements Coalition and the struggles that a number of the land claims and self-governing nations have had in terms of implementation of their agreements, to know that unless you nail it down in a piece of legislation, you're going to have a great deal of difficulty when it comes to the implementation phase.
I want to ask about the lack of a funding agreement, because that was identified back when people spoke about Bill C-25, the previous incarnation of this bill. At that time, the deputy minister indicated there would be funding, but it wasn't earmarked where that money would come from, how much, or when it would be available.
I've mentioned at this committee before that the B.C. First Nations Education Act is a good example of a piece of legislation that was passed five years ago and the funding is still not in place for that.
Are you aware of any specific discussions taking place with regard to funding, such as what amount and when? Are you aware of any of those discussions?