Mr. Chair, our government continues to believe that first nations students deserve access to the same quality of education as all other students. Since we were elected, we have invested roughly $10 billion to support elementary and secondary education on reserve.
The first nations control of first nations education act represented a real and concerted effort to improve education outcomes for first nations youth on reserve. While we are disappointed that the Assembly of First Nations was not prepared to accept this offer, our government remains committed to improving educational outcomes on reserve. We remain a committed partner in first nations education reform, and we will look for opportunities to work with first nations that are interested and able to pursue education reform, including through co-operative self-government agreements.