Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm just offering maybe an explanation. The Auditor General may not have been referring just in instances of maintenance costs, which is what Odette was responding to. In cases where--we call it maintenance--the child is removed from the family home and is either placed in a group home, a foster home, or institutional care, we reimburse, to whomever is providing that, the exact amount of that provincial rate.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We don't disagree, but I guess where we have a difference of opinion is on how you get there.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We feel that what you need to do is have a negotiated process with the province, with the first nation, and the federal government to agree on what services will be provided—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's not just the rate. What you have to do is be able to provide the service that is required. On maintenance, it's very clear, because on maintenance you have different types of maintenance, and you know what the costs are and the province sets specific rates for those things.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  With regard to Jordan's Principle, the First Nations are very enthusiastic because they want to be able to have access to a problem-solving process in the event of disagreement between governments and people who provide services. They are very enthusiastic. I must say that the same is true of the provinces with which we have had discussions and entered into agreements.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I could start. We already have some agreements. We have agreements in two provinces, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, on implementing Jordan's Principle. We also have discussions under way in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and New Brunswick on implementing it. And there are other provinces that feel they have the processes in place to handle any situations that may arise.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Lemay, I'm going to tell you that we've obtained funding under every budget since 2007. Our objective is to have signed agreements with all the provinces and territories by 2013. So we're still trying to move this file forward.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The total number of on-reserve children between the ages of 0 and 18 is actually 163,637. As of March 31, 2010, about 8,682, or 5.4% of those children were in care, out of the parental home. I think the minister was using a number from the Alberta report that referred to all the aboriginal children identified to be in care in Alberta.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Okay.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Lemay, as you know, that act is the responsibility of the Government of Quebec. The act is already in place, and it is up to the province to implement its acts. The federal government cannot intervene with the Government of Quebec. However, I must say that we have worked with the APNQL and we have had discussions to determine how we can improve prevention services in order to minimize consequences and to ensure that children have access to necessary services.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll talk about a couple of things that have been introduced. First is the notion of kinship care. By increasing kinship care, you are encouraging children to be with relatives and thus have the advantage of cultural language. Second is the introduction of post-adoption subsidies for family members.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Maybe I'll give you some stats on some of the improvements we've seen in Alberta. The first, on the institutional care side, covers from 2007-08 to 2009-10. The number of children in institutional care has had a substantial reduction, from 329 to 68. In kinship care, in which a child is placed in care with a family member, the numbers have dramatically increased.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. One of the things the Auditor General observed was that we should have a definition of culturally appropriate. Following that recommendation, we felt it wasn't up to the department to specifically define that, but rather we created a principle and we included that principle in our response to the report from the public accounts committee.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, we can.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  When we're moving to the enhanced prevention approach, we do that analysis. So to me your question is whether we can provide that analysis we've done.