Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Hi, Mr. Obed, and Ms. Monaghan. Thank you very much for joining us today. It's lovely to have you with us.
In place of an acknowledgement, I just want to acknowledge the tremendous impact the Inuit invention of the kayak had on my life. There's no single thing that has provided my life with more purpose. That's because the Inuit invented something that I've enjoyed for my whole life. Nakurmiik for that.
There are a couple of big, fundamental issues some members of this committee have really struggled with developing any sort of consensus around. In the previous hour, we heard from Chief Bellegarde and others about the lack of ambiguity between the terms “free, prior and informed consent” and “veto” and others. Another large stumbling block that my colleague indicated we seem to be tripping over is the acknowledgement of systemic racism, solutions for systemic racism and some of the things that systemic racism has led to.
In previous visits to this committee, Mr. Obed, you've talked about systemic racism having a significant impact on poverty and the injustice in Inuit Nunangat. I know this bill and the UNDRIP won't solve all of those problems, but I would love to hear from you on ways that you can imagine UNDRIP getting us a little bit closer to that mutual ambition of a far less racist Canada that will provide more economic and social mobility and greater human rights to all Inuit.