Wow. Where do I start?
I'm going to start where I have many times before with witnesses, and that is with the funding model itself. The reason is that I look at these contribution agreements, the grants and the programs, and there's no long-term sustainable funding in any of them. There is no self-determination in that funding. Can you speak to that in and of itself?
What do we need to change from a funding model standpoint that will enable and ensure that indigenous peoples, first nations, and reserves, etc., are the ones setting the priorities for their communities, rather than the paternalism that exists today, with the federal government saying that it will give them money for this area, money for that area, and money for another area?