[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Let me begin with how, as indigenous people, we value our culture very much. I think the federal government should also value our culture.
The federal government funded residential schools and federal day schools. Some of those who went to residential schools were sent away from their families so that their culture and language would be wiped out. There was a lot of money spent on residential schools, where they hired teachers. There were children shipped out to these residential schools, and that cost a bundle of money.
Now, when reconciliation is being talked about, it seems like all that money that was spent on residential schools has just disappeared or dissipated somewhere. There's hardly any funding for any schools, educators or education now. We hear that schools that are operated by indigenous teachers and indigenous peoples have very little funding.
We have heard that in Nunavut, for 46 years—from 1951 to 1997—there were 13 schools. There were residential schools where residential school students were getting beaten. Their languages, their culture and their identity were beaten out of them.
I want to ask if you are in agreement with me that the federal government should provide more funding to revitalize the culture, the language and the identity of indigenous peoples, so that we can keep our culture and language alive. If the government can spend astronomical amounts of money back then, why can't they give more funding these days?
I would like to hear your answers, if possible. I'm pretty sure time is tight, but I wanted to ask this question.