Mr. Speaker, in relation to the comments I have made over the last 15 minutes or so, I did speak at length about how, in my opinion, the best route out of poverty is through increased economic opportunities. This is much of what we have brought forward as an agenda, which will deliver what we see as economic outcomes for aboriginal people throughout the country.
First nations people, both on reserve and in urban centres, are always looking to have that opportunity to get a job, have a career and begin to have the same economic benefits that we see throughout the country. Unfortunately, not enough aboriginal people are able to take part.
Of course this is something that is very important to me. I have had the opportunity to go to university and as an aboriginal person I note that this is something that unfortunately is not seen as often as we would like. It is something that we would like to continue to promote, because it is through education that we will see the benefits and outcomes that we are all aspiring to have within our first nations, Métis and Inuit communities.
It is actually our initiatives in education that are the most exciting, in British Columbia in particular, where we have had an historic agreement with the government of British Columbia. That is bringing about an important systemic reform to the education system in that province. It is actually going to begin bringing about a type of school board system that will allow for a degree of standards to improve the outcomes for first nations students. It is an exciting time in British Columbia. I am looking forward to seeing that exported to other parts of Canada.