Good afternoon, colleagues. I call this meeting to order.
Welcome to the 83rd meeting of the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs. Pursuant to the Standing Orders, today’s meeting is taking place in a hybrid format.
For those participating virtually, you have the choice of choosing the language that you'll be following—French, English or Inuktitut. In the room here, we'll turn mikes on and off. Those joining us online will need to mute and unmute themselves as needed. Now that we're in session, photos and screenshots are not allowed.
Before we head out at the end of today or tomorrow when people are travelling home for Remembrance Day, I once again want to remind members that all amendments, including subamendments, must be submitted in writing and sent to our committee clerk. Our established deadline is November 29. If you wish to propose amendments, you can involve the legislative counsel, Alexandra Schorah, with your written instructions. She'll ensure that amendments are drafted in the proper legal format.
We have two panels today. We have resources until 5:35 p.m., at which time we will have to end this. That should help us manage our time accordingly. We'll go through our first opening statements, rounds of questions, suspend briefly, bring in the second panel, go through it and then adjourn for the weekend.
In our first panel, we have Mr. Tony Belcourt. He is in person. We also have Solomon Sanderson, consultant, and Danette Starblanket, assistant professor with the University of Regina. They are both online.
Welcome to everybody. We'll get right into your opening statements.
Mr. Belcourt, before I turn to you for your five-minute opening statement, I will mention that I have a card system. When there are 30 seconds left on the clock, I'll show the yellow card. When time is up, I'll show the red card. Don't stop mid-sentence. Just wind up your thoughts so that we can move on to the next person and the next round of questions. The time goes by quickly. There's a lot of material to fit into our rounds, but we try to get as much out as we can.
Mr. Belcourt, when you're ready, please proceed.