Mahsi. Thank you.
I'd like to welcome the committee to the north. Some don't need to be welcomed, like Michael McLeod.
Anyway, I'm the grand chief of the Tlicho nation. I was the grand chief in 2005. I was re-elected grand chief this past September. We govern 4,000 Tlicho people. Tlicho have land claims and self-government agreements; only three in Canada have a regional indigenous government. Tlicho own 39,000 square kilometres of land surface and subsurface rights, a single block about half the size of Nova Scotia. We have been working with Canada on the joint policy to fund indigenous governments. This work is crucial to the Tlicho government. Adequate funding based on actual costs will benefit our citizens, especially our most vulnerable citizens like the youth, elders, and women.
I'm the spokesman for the Tlicho government, but I'd like to turn the rest of this Tlicho government presentation to our legal counsel, Bertha Rabesca Zoe, to elaborate on the fiscal aspects of our presentation.