Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. [Witness speaks in her native language] Thank you for the invitation. Before I begin, I want to make an observation. I see a lot of leaders around the table. This tells me something. We're here again to tell you about a very serious situation that's fa

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Okay. A great deal has been said in recent times about the need to make accountability a central theme of political decision-making. I urge this committee and all parliamentarians to demonstrate their commitment to keeping faith with the aboriginal peoples of Canada. I urge this

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much for that question. Like the national chief...it's very hard to measure how much you've lost. When we were negotiating with the provinces and the federal government for the event in Kelowna, we were looking at the situation as it was in our communities. When y

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, may I respond to Mr. Bruinooge, or do I have to respond...?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I didn't have an opportunity, and I'll be very brief. I think Mr. Bruinooge raises a very important point. I think that if the government would honour the Kelowna accord, we wouldn't need Bill C-292. It wouldn't be necessary. Bill C-292 doesn't recite all the specific pieces of

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, I did say that, and there was a reason. It seemed to us this summer that the word “Kelowna” brought very negative feedback in trying to address the needs our people are facing. I was being interviewed, and I made the comment that I didn't care what you called it as long as t

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As far as I know, there were very specific plans on how the roll-out would happen. There would be further discussions with senior officials of the government. Amounts were set aside for the priorities that were set out in Kelowna. There were very distinct priorities and dollar am

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Maybe I can also respond to that. When you talk about nation to nation, that is precisely where we're starting from. As original people of the country, we fought very hard to get very basic recognition of aboriginal treaty rights in the Canadian Constitution in the 1980s. We hav

National Defence committee  Thank you very much, and good morning. Congratulations on your election as chair. I would like to first of all thank the standing committee for the invitation to appear today to speak to the topic of Arctic sovereignty. You've mentioned that I have about five to seven minutes.

National Defence committee  Okay. The world will increasingly tie assertions of sovereignty to questions involving other expectations of the international community, including expectations as to the treatment of aboriginal minorities and regard for key environmental considerations. Inuit are a patient and

National Defence committee  Thank you very much for your question. One of the key elements of this partnership-building that we're talking about between governments and Inuit is premised on the fact that we have settled all our land claims agreements. These land claims agreements are very comprehensive in

National Defence committee  No, there is no report card per se that is presented on an annual basis. We have asked the Government of Canada to establish a report card type of process. We raised this also with the premiers through the premiers' meeting, the confederation meeting. We've also raised it with di

National Defence committee  In terms of crossing the boundaries of Canada, no, we work within Canada, as Canadian Inuit. We have relationships that we're building with other Inuit globally on issues such as the environment and education, but we work within the perimeters of Canada. In terms of the honour o

National Defence committee  Yes.

National Defence committee  It is Nunatsiavut.