Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  You're quite right: that is an example of a very urgent situation. It has been a top priority for the department throughout the spring and summer, and for the province as well. I know that our regional colleagues in Manitoba have been working very closely with the first nations and with the provincial government to look at all the available options, one of them being permanent relocation.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There's no set time. That's one of the difficulties. I'm not sure it's possible to set a time, but certainly the idea of assisting in the negotiations is one of the things we're taking a look at: how can we help move those negotiations forward when they reach sticking points? There are some first nations that have been negotiating for years with various municipalities to try to get service agreements in place and some that get them in place in a matter of months.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, any of the specific claims that Andrew referred to, so if it's a question of lands having been taken improperly in the past.... I'll give you the example of railway lands, which is a very common situation whereby railway lands were expropriated and the first nation would like to get them back.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Do you mean the joint working group with the AFN?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members, for inviting us back today. As the chair said, my name is Margaret Buist. I am the director general of the lands and environment management branch in Aboriginal Affairs. With me today is Andrew Beynon, who has been here before, as you know.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, very much so. As I said, it's a public system. It's open to the public, so businesses and banks that are looking at lending can all access the system.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for that question. We have a number of activities under way to improve the land registry system. You heard Andrew describe some of the challenges with respect to that registry system, such as when first nations have to mail documents into headquarters as opposed to pressing a button and electronically registering them.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We get daily requests for assistance through our information technology help desk, when people are trying to use the system. That's one area we track in assessing the challenges facing first nations people who are using the system. We also get letters to the minister that bring to our attention concerns with respect to the system.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  My branch in headquarters is in charge of the reserve land issue south of 60 and the two reserves north of 60. We perform certain functions in headquarters. My branch size is about 70 people, but we can't do our job without all of the people in the regions. Each individual first nation will deal first with the regional office in a particular province or territory, when they want to do something with respect to lands, such as an addition to reserve.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Sure. Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We can divide it up to the reserve lands piece that I do, and get you that information. Sure.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  With respect to your comment on CEPA, there are the fuel tank regulations that were brought in as a result, and they're the only ones that have been brought in to regulate the use of fuel tanks on reserve. We're working closely with our colleagues at Environment Canada on the regulation of the fuel tanks on reserve that are within the purview of the first nations.