They're fundamental to development in the north and they're fundamental as a path for aboriginal people across the country, in terms of how they can take charge of their economic, social, and cultural future.
What makes the north a very exciting place to visit is that we have very advanced agreements in place across most of the north. All of the Inuit land claims are settled now. They've exercised their aboriginal rights through the public government of Nunavut for more than a decade now. Many communities up and down the Mackenzie Valley have been exercising their land claims agreements for some time. The Inuvialuit I think are up to about 25 years now. They chart a path very different from that of the Indian Act. What you'll often see is a lot of south of 60 first nations leaders going up to the Yukon or the Northwest Territories to see if this is the path forward. When there is any bit of...what's the word? When the implementation doesn't go as fast and as smoothly as it should, we're upset by that, too, because we'd like to go to first nations across the country and say there is a better way, that you can get out of the Indian Act and you can take control of your future.
The challenge is.... I could go on at length, but Mr. Chairman will cut me off. It's always a challenge for a small community--1,000 or 2,000 people--to exercise broad responsibilities. Running a child welfare agency, a school, or a health authority is hard to do for any community, so what we try to do is make sure the capacity, the management, and the human resources are in place when they take up the jurisdiction and start running these programs and services.