It's an excellent question. I think it calls into question some of the principles we've stated quite clearly as a government about renewing our relationship and working on a nation-to-nation basis, going at the pace of the communities, and the sort of square approach that we have at times been accused—rightly so—of taking with respect to communities that want a little rounder solution.
Ironically even more so to your comments, Patrick, where we've had successes more often than not has been in the west, with a few notable exceptions where I come from. The pace is slow. I don't think we can deny that. There is a multi-governmental approach that needs to be taken when we talk about fisheries or defence or natural resources and provincial government involvement. These are all elements that do slow down the pace, but clearly the resources that we've allocated in the last five years have been significant. We have hundreds of negotiation tables of various natures, whether they're sectoral or not.
The modern treaty process is a slow process, but I think we have to realize as a country that what we have as a set of tools needs to be expanded for communities that just refuse, as a starter, to get into those discussions. It forces those communities into the devil they know, which is the Indian Act, and that is an absolutely unacceptable proposition to hear in this day and age.
Internally, in reflecting on it, we have to get smarter about what we're doing. There are some great.... I think about the Sechelt thing in your riding, Patrick, and there is some good news on the horizon there, hopefully. Obviously, the pace isn't at the pace that we would hold ourselves to and, indeed, that the communities and nations expect us to move at. You get into numbered treaty areas in the prairies, and you get into peace and friendship treaties in my neck of the woods and the relationship gets much more complex.
There's a lot of work to do, and it's stuff that we have to be open-eyed about, but clearly, the resources that we are now deploying, particularly in coming off two years of pandemic, are such that we feel we can make some significant progress. I think people are expecting more results, quicker, and I don't object to that point.