Human Resources committee  To me that's where the easy answer is. I believe the indigenous community needs to lead that, in partnership, of course. We need to lead that, to define that, and be funded adequately in order to address the issues that are facing our community. It's about building from the inside out.

Human Resources committee  First, I would agree that, absolutely, the child benefit helps, and it's not clawed back, which is extremely helpful to families. As food goes up, no other money goes up. If you are on social assistance—and it has been that way for a really long time, with no increases to assist families—you are still faced with having to make the decision, “Do I pay rent, or do I buy food?”

Human Resources committee  In regard to education and training, I would invest in those indigenous-led organizations that are already doing great work. In Winnipeg we have the Centre for Aboriginal Human Resource Development, CAHRD, which is an indigenous-led organization that has been working on building the capacity of indigenous people so that they are employable.

Human Resources committee  Thank you very much. Thank you for the opportunity to be here. Welcome to Treaty 1 territory, the home of the Métis nation. Also, welcome to the indigenous capital of Canada. We know that we have more indigenous people here per capita than anywhere else in Canada. That is really important to us as an indigenous-led organization, which is what I'm here to represent, the Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre.