Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to respond to that question. Earlier this evening a colleague opposite made the comment that members on this side of the House do not care about first nations communities or aboriginal people. I take exception to that.
When I came to Parliament two years ago I requested the opportunity to serve on the aboriginal affairs and northern development committee. It was not out of any sense of expertise or anything like that, but out of a desire to serve and work alongside my colleagues here to address the issues that have plagued our aboriginal communities for years.
I am pleased that at different times the aboriginal affairs committee has had the opportunity to hear witnesses from communities where they have succeeded in amazing ways in terms of economic development and educational opportunities. They have improved the lives of the people either on first nations reserves or in urban centres.
We have much to celebrate in terms of the progress we have made. I for one am very optimistic about the fact that our aboriginal communities have the ideas and we need to listen to them and work with them, as I said in my speech, collaboratively and cooperatively to address these issues.