Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I will try to give some information on some of the questions, but I think the departments might be more able to elaborate.
We all have to recognize that this is a very complex issue. The management responsibilities of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs are significant. They are complex. I know some people have referred to it as almost being the equivalent of a provincial government, in that it provides many of the same services to those communities. When we talk about the $8.2 billion, we have to recognize these are communities that are receiving funding for education, social welfare, health, housing.... The list goes on and on.
When we talk about the diversity of communities, the fact that they are spread all across the country and that most are very small—as you mentioned, the majority have fewer than 500 people—presents a particular challenge. Then, having communities as well in remote areas brings additional challenges.
That being said, it doesn't mean things can't be improved. There have been many commitments made that under treaty obligations, in response to our audits, things will be improved, that action will be taken. It is disappointing, to say the least, to see that in some cases there isn't progress being made on the very concrete problems that affect the health and wellbeing of people.
We've tried to identify what some of the critical success factors were. The chair has already mentioned sustained management attention to issues. There is also the capacity of first nations to deliver these programs. There is the existence or the lack of institutional capacity: in things such as education, our communities have school boards, but you don't have school boards; when the Commissioner of the Environment did the water audit, which is not included here, there were no standards for water on first nations reserves. There's a lack of things we would expect to exist generally in society. So there need to be efforts made as well to put those foundational pieces in place in order to be able to improve the lives of first nations people.
Perhaps there's a conflicting role, when we say the whole relationship has to be built on a relationship of trust. When you have what at a minimum can be perceived as conflicting roles—when you're delivering service, yet you're negotiating claims and are being sued—they can break or diminish the trust that exists between government and first nations. I think the departments might also want to elaborate on that.