Thank you to all of you for being here; somebody is still on their way, I guess. I really appreciate your testimony. It's been very interesting.
I will start with you, Ms. Whitford, because I want to hear more about your experiences in Ecuador. I have been to Ecuador a few times, although only a few days or weeks at a time. I spent some time in Oriente. When I first went there in the late eighties it seemed to me like northern Canada, despite the fact it was a steaming jungle. It was this vast wilderness area where people felt that a lot of the resources and wealth were being produced for Ecuador, and yet a lot of the benefits were not seen there. There were, at that time, some negative interactions between indigenous populations and resource companies, even some Canadian companies. I think there is even ongoing litigation along those lines.
Can you tell us just in general terms to start off, because obviously a lot of this happened before you went there, from your experience, what has changed in Ecuador that perhaps we could learn from here on this committee and in this government to better involve indigenous peoples in resource decisions and resource extraction?