No, Mr. Chair, we are the external auditors of the federal government. When we have done our work on first nations programs, though, I would say we have had excellent cooperation and collaboration from first nations communities. Generally throughout all the audits we do, they collaborate with us. We also have the involvement of first nations leaders on a panel to help us determine strategic issues and areas we should be auditing. They have been very helpful to us.
What we have to recognize is that each first nation has an auditor who audits the financial statements of that first nation. These would be auditors from the private sector, and having them is a requirement from the various departments. So there are many audits, and the departments can conduct their own work as well.
We have taken the position, if I can even make a link to the proposed Bill C-2, that it really is up to the departments to ensure that programs are met and the moneys in the programs are going for the intended purposes, not to the external auditor. We are very comfortable with the arrangement we have.