Finance committee  Thank you very much. Very quickly, I'll state that so many of our young people in Saskatchewan are actually not attaining grade 12, and some as young as 12, 13, and 14 are exiting the education system. Between that age cohort and of course age 29 or so, there is a large gap of young people who are not participating in the economy.

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Good morning to all members and of course a special recognition for MP Kelly Block from Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar. Good morning. She got us here. She invited us. So thank you very much. I'm joined by Chief Marie-Anne Day Walker-Pelletier. My name is Chief Guy Lonechild, from the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Rickford. Again, as the FSIN, I'll say that this isn't our first rodeo when it comes to exploratory processes. In the province of Saskatchewan, we've got the Office of the Treaty Commissioner, which of course is an exploratory process; the Treaty Governance Office, which is an extension of that process; and other exploratory processes that have either failed to meet the expectations of first nations governance--

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  To get to it then, we cannot have note takers coming to our tables; we have to have decision-makers. If we have decision-makers who are able to sit down respectfully with our chiefs, as they have--and with all due respect to our chiefs who have sat there for a good number of years...I think of Chief Denton George from the Ochapowace First Nation, who is no longer with us today.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I won't speak for them. I'm just trying to address the question of the exploratory. There are fundamental flaws with that, and it shouldn't be something that is just a waste of your time or ours.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Just very quickly, thank you for the question, Mr. Lemay. One of the things that's commonly said is, here we go again. Back in 1985, Bill C-31 looked at addressing some of these very common concerns this bill now tries to address. Rest assured, it won't close the gap of further discrimination totally.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. On behalf of Saskatchewan's first nations, I begin by acknowledging the elders of the people of the Algonquin territory. I want to thank the members of Parliament, this talking place, for giving me the opportunity to speak to you about Bill C-3.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I would say that by its—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Just for the record, this has been sent to the clerk.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll ask for some support, but very quickly, the Speech from the Throne talked about strengthening student support, and we believe strengthening student support also means that institutions that serve post-secondary students in this country, such as the First Nations University, are an integral part of that; and that the Indian student support programming as well as the post-secondary student support programming are a vital and important part of that.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As we speak, the memorandum of understanding is being signed by the Province of Saskatchewan; it's signed by me. It is also going to be followed by a financial management agreement, a liaison agreement, and of course a transition agreement. That is the overall umbrella agreement for us in this new partnership.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Number one, I think the board has taken the steps to fire the president and ensure that proper measures will be taken on behalf of the First Nations University of Canada. They've demonstrated that there is, I think, a willingness to ensure full accountability and transparency, that any and all funds that may have been misused or misappropriated be reported to our partners.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We'll both respond. I can't reiterate any more strongly to you that we have new leadership at the helm of the FSIN. We had gained unanimous support at the chiefs in assembly that changes needed to be made, that mistakes were made. The scholarship money was a problem for the university.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll ask for some assistance from Ms. Myo as well, but for ISSP funding, the funding primarily does not cover core funding, operations, equipment. We fully believe, given that Minister Rob Norris, last year or a year and a half ago, at the Canadian Council for Ministers on Education, used First Nations University as a best practice...

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Absolutely. At the CCME meeting in Saskatoon...that First Nations University was a major catalyst for people entering post-secondary education, and having that as a model, for the institution itself, to be that welcoming environment for people who enter post-secondary. Our insistence is that we need sustainable multi-year funding.