Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It would probably be within two to three months. Well, most likely it would be before the April deadline.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  At that point we would then have an indication that the court decision is now under review by the Supreme Court, and at that point we would most likely file an application to have the B.C. court decision stayed during the appeal process. The Indian Act, as it is right now, would continue until the end of the Supreme Court's deliberations.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. If the leave to appeal is granted, we would then ask for a suspension to allow the appeal to wind its way through the courts. We would then work with the decision of the Supreme Court.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm sure that number will continue to grow as we do more of the regional engagement sessions.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, we hired an expert in demographics, and we've also done some detailed work with the registry of Indian status. So we're now a bit more comfortable with that number, but it's certainly not the final figure. As you mentioned, people who have lost status in the past.... 1951 was quite a long time ago.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It was 25 last week, and I think the majority of them have been supportive.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Those two programs are absolutely necessary to have status. You also need to have status and live on a reserve for entitlement to some of the other programs, such as housing. So it becomes a little more complicated when you start to cost out those implications. As I've indicated, if there are some 25,000 to 40,000 new Indians registered as a result of the amendment, it's not necessarily clear yet how many will take up residency on reserve.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Perhaps I could take that in a couple of pieces. On the engagement, you're absolutely right, we're using the word “engagement” and not “consultation”. “Consultation” has connotations of a proposal that might affect aboriginal rights or title. The Indian Act registration provisions are not related to that kind of topic.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much for inviting us today. Several months ago, it now seems, on June 16, I had the opportunity, along with my colleague Pamela McCurry, who is the senior assistant deputy minister of policy and strategic direction at INAC, to provide parliamentarians with a presentation on what the McIvor court decision is about and what significance it will have for Indian registration.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Perhaps I could mention this from my own personal point of view. I was in Edmonton yesterday and happened to cross a meeting between the director of the Alberta regional health support workers and her workers.The majority of the workers are aboriginal themselves, so they're able to provide a culturally appropriate service.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm not sure I can specifically answer on behalf of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, but if I could, we do have a program that provides public information to communities and works with them on the impacts. We will be carrying forward funding for that into the next fiscal year, so there would be some scope for working with communities to try to mitigate some of these potential impacts.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  You're referring to the money that the church is providing in services in kind. We will be doing an evaluation of the whole settlement agreement, and we are in discussions with the church groups continually. I think we can give you some assurance that indeed the church groups regard this with the amount of seriousness that you do and that we all do, in fact.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Certainly. From what I've read in its annual reports and the documents that it has sent out, I would say that it's been a very positive influence in this area.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  With regard to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, I could perhaps refer to the supplementary estimates that were tabled at committee. What they did was quite unusual in government terms. They have allocated the budget for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the five years that it will be operating as an entire amount.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We're estimating at about 12,000. Obviously, as history continues, that estimate is quite soft.