That's a very good question. I entirely agree that education is a basic problem that has to be addressed, or rather the basic solution. Education is the basis of social progress, economic progress and better governance for the communities. I believe the government has acknowledged that. It made a commitment in the last throne speech and in the last budget.
As we cannot impose any solutions, we have established a mechanism for the Assembly of First Nations. An expert panel is currently travelling and will submit its report and recommendations to the minister and national chief before Christmas. That will at least lay the groundwork to enable parliamentarians and other individuals to commit to courses of action. I hope the report will contain quite specific recommendations. It is not our report; it's an entirely independent exercise.
In the meantime, we have pursued partnership programs. We have made investments in schools. We are developing agreements where we can, with local school boards and education authorities.
One of the issues is--and people don't like to talk about this--the small size of the communities. You're talking about first nations with a median size of 410 people. That means half of them are smaller than 400, with fewer than 200 adults. Without school boards, without structures that bring people together on a geographic basis
like the school boards in the provinces
to share some of the resources, it's very difficult for the best-meaning teachers and principals in a small community to get the kinds of results, no matter how much money is put into those kinds of situations. I don't want to be misinterpreted--financing and stable, predictable funding are certainly part of the solution, but without the other structural pieces, I wouldn't expect a big gain in results.