A lot of the role they are being funded for now overlaps with what we're supposed to do. A big part of our role at the tribal council is to help communities with their capacity, but we're shoved aside. Our funding is cut. Meanwhile, there's a big injection to that. There's a disconnect between the financial management board and the communities. They have regional offices, but they don't collaborate as closely with the communities as we do.
For example, every year I have to put in a work plan that the communities sign off on. When I hand in my report, the communities sign off on it. I'm accountable to them. I don't think the financial management board is as accountable to them. They are taking on a role now that's even higher. With the 10-year agreements, the communities are more or less going to report to them.
We're there; we exist. We're close to the communities. We can help them. We know what their capacity-building needs are, but we're shoved aside. That's my problem with it. It's not with the organization per se. It's the fact that we're shoved aside, while someone else gets the funding that we desperately need. I think there's a role for both, but it needs to be looked at what the two roles are.