Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There are seven. Those seven to which I'm referring have been finalized, and there are nations that are exercising jurisdiction, yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I apologize if I spoke that way. What I meant to say is that there are seven indigenous governing bodies in Canada that are exerting jurisdiction over their child and family services.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I apologize.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, it is a self-governing agreement, so the decision-making process, as in any self-government, lies with the community.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's right.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Since 2023.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's right.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's a very good question. It depends on the pace at which communities wish to proceed, so this is in their hands.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In section 20 of the act, there are two mechanisms for them to signal whether they wish to proceed to assert jurisdiction or whether they want to do it via a coordination agreement. They have those two mechanisms, and yes, that is under the community's control.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's right.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think the purpose of the act is to further UNDRIP's purpose as well, which is really to ensure that decisions that are made about the most important relationships are made by the people who are directly affected by them, the indigenous communities themselves. The purpose is to reassert jurisdiction where it has been for thousands of years, and for that support to be a bit different from what we've seen historically in child welfare to really be prevention-based and strengths-based in terms of what a community has to offer its children.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think it really depends on which communities want to do what and when. The act is one tool. There are many tools in terms of what communities are already actively doing, so if you don't see something on the map right here, it doesn't mean that there's no change happening in terms of child and family services.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Absolutely.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We do work alongside colleagues in Jordan's principle. It's not our area of work. We'll get you a written answer to that question, but I do understand there's been a significant increase in requests as communities understand better what's available under Jordan's principle, and there's active work being undertaken to address any delays.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, a coordination agreement is basically an agreement about the assertion of jurisdiction, what the community is going to do and what funding frameworks are built therein. Basically, it's the tripartite agreement that exists to support the exercise of jurisdiction by a given indigenous community.