Thank you very much for those comments.
I think the first and most important thing is to have a person heading up the process who will keep it focused and targeted. Frankly, in determining the way forward here, we made a conscious choice to have a process that was headed up by someone who would represent me as minister. There were other models that were looked at, but I felt very strongly that having a respected Canadian take the lead on this would give it the focus you're talking about and the sense of direction you're talking about.
I know of the work Wendy Grant-John has done. She's extremely well respected by the Assembly of First Nations and by NWAC. She is a former chief of the Musqueam First Nation and has that experience as well. She is, to my mind, essentially the best person in Canada to do this. I know that she'll keep it targeted. Certainly other issues will be discussed. I expect we will stay focused on the whole issue of empowering aboriginal women to move forward their communities and their children.
I have a very strong-willed mother, four strong-willed sisters, and three strong-willed daughters, so I'm firmly of the view that a big part of social progress here lies in empowering aboriginal women to advance the interests of themselves and their children in the education and political processes. We have more women emerging as chiefs in communities, and they're doing an extraordinary job, without exception, in those communities.
I think things like section 67 of the Human Rights Act and the matrimonial property reform create a more level playing field so that the interests of women, and thereby the interests of families, can be advanced. I predict, ladies and gentlemen, that if we take some of the steps we're talking about here today, in ten years you'll see enormous changes.