Thank you very much for your question.
One of the key elements of this partnership-building that we're talking about between governments and Inuit is premised on the fact that we have settled all our land claims agreements. These land claims agreements are very comprehensive in nature and they were signed between all parties. I think there was a certain trust and expectation when these signatures were put on the legal documents.
So we have the tools already in place to be able to build that partnership, and it's very important to make sure that these agreements are being implemented in a way that allows us as Inuit to be partners with different organizations. It's not just the federal government, it's the territorial government and provincial governments. The co-management regimes and the authority that's bestowed upon us through these agreements are very important in terms of building that relationship.
The other point I want to make is that we work with the Government of Canada. Inuit have never really been against military presence in the Arctic. That's not a real issue for us, except that our agenda as Inuit is more focused on the human dimension of sovereignty, which means that alongside the infrastructure that is being built for the presence of our military and to make sure that our borders are secure, we need to build sustainable communities. As I said earlier in my presentation, Inuit have occupied the Arctic for millennia, and in many ways, as Canadians, as aboriginal people living in Canada, we were used as flag posts in the High Arctic to show that we had presence.
The Inuit won't be leaving there any time soon. We are permanent residents of the Arctic. So I think it's very important to build an agenda with the government that will help develop the capacity of our communities, where we take on the jobs that are there, where you don't always have to transport individuals into the Arctic to do all the jobs that are necessary. It means having a better education and health system, comparable to Canada. We're talking about trying to close the gap in living conditions between Inuit and other Canadians. Those go hand in hand, and I think that's a very important element of what we're talking about.