Thank you very much, MP Atwin. It was such a delight to be in Atlantic Canada. I have to say that one of the silver linings of being this minister is getting to meet with indigenous people from across the country and learning about new cultures like the Wolastoqiyik and the Mi'kmaq. It's just been a wonderful opportunity for me as a Canadian to understand the many different communities and the differences between culture and language across the country.
I was delighted to meet with you and the indigenous friendship centre in your community in Fredericton. Patsy and her team were incredibly welcoming. The work they've already done to help urban indigenous people find their paths and either choose to stay in an urban setting or find their way back to community, learn culture and language as appropriate, and provide child care—this is the kind of work that we're really fostering across the country. We have a program that does provide funding to indigenous friendship centres and does provide supports for programs that are run through indigenous friendship centres. Although our program is largely for people on reserve, we know that there's a fluid movement of people between urban centres for school, services, work, and then back to first nations.
We're going to continue to work with indigenous friendship centres and support their success. We think it's an important component to indigenous people all across the country.