Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank all of the witnesses for being here today as we consider this important piece of legislation and try to find our way to a good outcome.
Ms. Playne, I'm going to start with you. Hopefully, I'll get to everybody a bit here throughout my time.
You had an article in the Toronto Star just in the last couple of days. It's very similar to a lot of the points you made today in your presentation, so I'm not pulling anything out of here that's not what you probably just said as well. I think it's pretty common information that you shared. I'm going to quote from the article, which, again, reflects what you said.
It states, “First Nations and Métis in Ontario are supposed to be walking this path to reconciliation together; yet each day, it feels more and more like a feeding frenzy. Some First Nations leaders are pitting us against one another.” That's one of the paragraphs in there.
Today, in fairness, you clarified this. Part of my question was going to be about how it's not just first nations leaders, but other Métis leaders, other Métis organizations and the MMF. There have been letters written by the MN-S and the MNBC, which have challenged the MNO leadership on some of the membership stuff and some of that. I'm sure you're aware of all that.
My question around all of this—the importance of this legislation and some of the controversy that's happening between different groups, especially in northern Ontario—is on consultation. Do you think there was enough consultation?
You talked about misinformation. Was there the provision of enough accurate information to all of the parties involved in all of this to avoid some of the conflict, avoid some of the accusations and avoid some of the challenges that we're facing now?
Was an adequate job done in creating the relationship and providing information to all of the parties that are now concerned about some of the things going on?