That's a very good question. It is one that will be in the forefront of all of our people's minds, about the transitions that are required. In British Columbia, we have 23 delegated agencies and 204 first nations, which is roughly one-third of all first nations in the country. We have 84 first nations that do not have a relationship with a delegated agency and are provided services by the province's ministry of children and families. The others are members of the 23 delegated agencies.
The transition will now be from the Province of British Columbia and from the delegated agencies to the communities and how that will work. That will take time and a lot of planning. Many of these delegated agencies that I'm speaking about are set up by first nations themselves. They may choose, if they wish, to continue the agencies as they are, but under their own authority.
There are very important practical problems. For me, the biggest issue, of course, is whether it's a delegated agency, a first nations agency or the provincial government under this bill. I expect that those three models will continue. The very big issue for me is the issue of financing for the services provided. That's where we've had some very serious problems across the board, with both the federal government and the provincial government. In that regard, I think the human rights tribunal has been a dispute mechanism that has been very helpful in sorting out the very difficult challenges in financial issues.
I do want to acknowledge Jane Philpott. When she was the minister responsible in this area, she was very responsive to the questions and the issues that were raised...and her successor, of course, Minister O'Regan.