Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. This picks up a question earlier from Mr. Bagnell. Indeed, the reality is changing. The reality of aboriginal people in Canada is changing, and this migration shift that's been going on for decades and increasing means that more than half of all aboriginal people now are off of a reserve land base.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think it was before my tenure as executive director. But my understanding is that the consultation with NAFC on some of these criteria changes was very limited. I think it would behove the officials to actually look at what the real situation on the ground is. The real situation is that you have a friendship centre on reserve, and it has a cost.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Specifically, I need the committee to have very loud voices very often in advocating for friendship centres, and particularly this core aspect of funding. I also think the committee members should look at the government of the day and say that if we need a service partner, a partner to work with and to get things done, and government always does—I'm a former public servant, I worked in government, and we need partners to do things—then they should look to the friendship centres.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Absolutely. If I return to the long-term funding of the AFCP, it hasn't received any funding increase since 1996, and even the issue around 1996 was that it was cut back dramatically at that point. Essentially, it's received an ongoing deficit of the cost of living per year: 1.4%, 2.2%...it depends on which year it is.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's a tough question. The first part of my answer would be that the best department would be the one that's funding us properly. Let's put it like that. It doesn't matter where it's housed. If it was in the Department of Transport and funded properly, that would be different. There are probably synergies with other departments that are better suited, whether that's in something like the Department of Indian Affairs or somewhere else.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Sure. At a national level the other major program is the cultural connections for aboriginal youth, referred to as CCAY. It's run out of the Department of Heritage, as is Young Canada Works. As far as I'm aware--Conrad or Tricia can correct me--they haven't received funding increases in many years.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I wholeheartedly agree. The demographic trends have been shifting pretty rapidly in the last decade and a half. This isn't a trend limited to Canada; it's around the world. Migration to urban centres is an issue for all countries, and in particular it's an issue for aboriginal people, because what's been referred to sometimes as the urban churn--coming from a rural and remote or reserve community into an urban setting, taking people out of their cultural base--causes a lot of chaos in the urban environment for different aboriginal people.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, thank you very much. I think I will monopolize the first ten minutes of it. Allow me to begin with acknowledging the Algonquin Nation, who inhabited the land we are sitting on today. My name is Jeffrey Cyr. I'm the recently appointed executive director of the National Association of Friendship Centres.