Public Accounts committee  No we did not audit that.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, thank you for this opportunity to discuss our audit of the acquisition of military helicopters. As you mentioned, I am accompanied today by Jerome Berthelette, Assistant Auditor General, and John Reed, Principal, who were responsible for this audit. The process for acquiring complex military equipment is challenging and demanding.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I doubt, Chair, that there is very much that is totally independent of money, but I really do believe that the question of defining what are comparable services is at the heart of this. And then, of course, after that, I guess “culturally appropriate” would also need to be defined.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think that this is an excellent point. We will follow this up.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  This is a good question, we should know whether they belong—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Absolutely. We will audit the progress that will be made, as well as the timeline. Even the Alberta agreement, which was signed in 2007, was only fully implemented this year. It took three years. Therefore, if an agreement was signed this year, it might not have been totally implemented.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We are interested in the services for which the federal government is responsible.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  At the time we did the audit, Chair, this agreement with Alberta was very recent. It was just beginning--it would only be fully implemented, actually, this year--so at that point it was very difficult to have any kind of information about the results of it. I think most people could understand, though, that the fact that preventative services had not been funded previously could certainly be one of the factors why so many children were taken into care, because that was the only way to get them services.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, we would only look at the issues of children on reserve because of the federal responsibility there. We did not look beyond that.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We haven't followed up on this. As I mentioned, we are doing a follow-up audit that we will be tabling in the spring, but we haven't looked specifically at that issue.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, clearly, I think, the federal government has to work with the provinces to understand what are the types and the extent of services being provided. I must admit I'm a little surprised if provincial agencies wouldn't be willing to share that, because they are sending invoices to the federal government for those types of services.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  [Inaudible--Editor]...you could start right there. And I would presume, when they did the agreements with Alberta and the other provinces, that there must have been some discussion around the kinds of services, because they expanded it, then, to the preventative services, which hadn't been in the funding formula before.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We were very pleased, actually, to collaborate with our colleagues in British Columbia. We would have shared, I presume, plans, and looked at what we call lines of inquiry, or at any similar issues. I mentioned the foreword at the beginning; we would have looked at some of the common issues to be able to give parliamentarians a better perspective, not only of the federal role but also the provincial role.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Obviously I think..... Yes, that's obviously a very good thing.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm afraid we don't know.