Again, it's a two-pronged process. On the reserve you have to deal with closing the tuition gap, because on reserve it's $6,500 per child versus the provincial school system where it's almost $11,000 to $12,000 per child, versus the French school system where it's almost $20,000 per child for tuition. That has to be addressed. That closes the gap, so then you can pay the teachers the same salaries and you'll have access to the same extracurricular activities, plus math, libraries, and computers. All those things can happen. Close the O and M gap and the tuition gap.
Then you have to look at the capital infrastructure. You have to focus on the schools themselves on reserve. With the off-reserve school systems, the languages are important—on reserve and off reserve—because studies have shown that once a young child is fluent in their first nations language, by 12 to 13 years of age they're more successful in school and therefore more successful in life. Studies have shown that. They know who they are and where they come from and that their language is equally as important as English and French. That's validation; that's acceptance. You have to work on the on-reserve school system, but influence the provincial school systems as well.
This is why I work with the premiers. Why can't they declare the indigenous languages as official languages of the territory or state like they do in the NWT? Why can't they do that in Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta? That can happen.
It's a two-pronged strategy on the reserve. That's where the federal crown comes in, dealing with the tuition and capital structures needed for proper schools and working with the provincial systems as well, because 50% of our kids are in those systems, both in the Catholic school system and in the public school system. That's where curriculum is very important.