Mr. Speaker, as a former president of our local aboriginal friendship centre, I am delighted the member raised the lack of mention of those centres in the budget.
I want to ask her about an issue related to self-governing first nations. There is $50 million in the budget for the north, for housing, but it is for everybody. Some of that is intended for aboriginal housing, but it does not say how much or how they would get it. In the south, it is specifically targeted at $400 million for on reserve, but in the north, it is not specified.
This happened the last time around. Our first nations were incensed that the government had not treated them as governments and did not give them the money directly. It flowed through other governments. I got a furious phone call from a vice-chief yesterday saying that once again there is $50 million for the public at large, but there is no sense that it is going to be delivered directly to self-governing first nations. There is no sense of how much is for them.
They are once again incensed that although they are now governments as approved by this Parliament they are not being treated as governments and they are not getting the money to directly flow to them. It is good that the much needed money for housing is there, but it is the process which they are very upset with.