Mr. Perry Billingsley (Director General, Policy Development and Coordination, Treaties and Aboriginal Government, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development) at the Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee

In answer to your first question, we currently have the band council system in place. But in order to move towards self-government, we are trying to find a government system that the council deems to be both legitimate and practical for the members of the community. All these issues are obviously to be taken into consideration in a 21^st century. So we have to look at bringing the traditional and the democratic systems together and find solutions. And that entails negotiations. We have been successful with a Yukon community where we found a way to tailor the clan system to the democratic system.