The problem with the child welfare is a policy problem in that we do not have the tools to really achieve the results that Parliament would expect.
We are trying to put in place prevention-based child welfare, which is exactly what all provinces tried to do in the 1990s. I did explain to you, sir, that we have accomplished that in Alberta, in Saskatchewan, in Nova Scotia, and we would like to extend that prevention-based approach to other provinces.
The increase in compliance in reporting is specifically in response to the criticisms that were raised in our internal audit and by the Auditor General that we were not checking. So we have gone from no compliance activity to a great deal of compliance activity, and I would hope that you'd be satisfied that this is something we should be doing.
Culturally appropriate services are not really something that I, as a white bureaucrat in Ottawa, can define for a first nations agency operating in a particular community. The Auditor General's chapter does recommend, and we accept, that we should have a point of view on that--and we do--and that we be engaged with our partners on trying to define that.
It may mean something different in a Haida community, in Six Nations, in an Inuit community, and so on. Child protection, at the end of the day, is child protection in the best interests of the child, and one of the controversies about child protection for first nations and Inuit children is trying to be sensitive to the needs of the community: language, culture, separation from parents, and so on. You're familiar with the residential schools experience, the sixties scoop of adoptions, and so on.
That's why the agencies were created in the 1990s and that's why we think it's very important to catch up to practices in most of the provinces, which are the prevention-based models. We are trying to get into the mainstream of what provinces do with comparable services. It's similar to other areas like education, like income assistance, and so on, where--it's no secret and we've said this often--we do not have the kinds of tools that provincial governments have to run these kinds of areas.
I would recommend to you, because I know you're an experienced member of the committee, Madam Fraser's report from the summer of 2006, which is a compendium of what it would take to actually make a difference in aboriginal policy. I agree entirely with her conclusions on that.