In terms of the Ring of Fire and the nine Matawa communities, through our strategic partnerships initiative we have been working collectively with Health Canada and the Province of Ontario to try to get the nine Matawa communities to sign on to a new whole-of-government approach to address their infrastructure and priority needs. We have three communities out of the nine that are working with us now to address priorities such as water, housing, and some of their health problems.
It's slow going. The capacity there needs to be built. We're working on how we can build that capacity, respecting their governance, and trying to do a whole-of-government approach.
Mr. Rae mentioned their having to make applications to several departments. We've pushed that away, and we're working with them through a single-window approach to try to lift up that capacity of those communities so that when development does occur, they're better prepared to take advantage of that development.
This is new for us. It's a pilot that we're trying in some very disadvantaged communities. If that pilot works, then I think it sets the stage for more horizontality across departments to deal with first nations communities in addressing their needs and equipping them to be better positioned to take advantage of development down the road.
There is a large investment out of budget 2016 associated with this for housing and infrastructure, such as water treatment plants, but it goes beyond that. We have to be more present, with the Province of Ontario, in helping those communities build the capacity that they currently don't have, and that's been the focus in the Ring of Fire most recently.