When we referred to aboriginal people, we were thinking of both on reserve and off reserve. I have lived in Winnipeg, I have lived in Montreal, and I've lived in Toronto. Many aboriginal people are in desperate straits in the urban centres, as they are in the remote reserves. On some of the reserves that are near the urban centres, the women and the families there are better off.
What we have to do is look at some means of ensuring that the poverty levels for women and the families they care for are eliminated.
Whatever strategy weight we do, it has to be achieved.... Under the Constitution, of course, the primary responsibility for our first nations community is federal. That's why I feel your committee, hopefully, can look at strategies of how to get a guaranteed annual income, or whatever means it is, into the hands of our aboriginal communities.