Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's a good question. I don't have statistics with me right now. I'll have to go from memory here. The percentage of graduates who do go out to post-secondary institutions--secondary five graduates--I would say is around 40% to 50% at the outset. As I said, others will wait maybe a year, two years, three years before they pursue post-secondary studies.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I don't think there is per se a tracking arrangement for our post-secondary students. We try to guide them to training, university, or college programs that would gear them to positions required within the Cree territory, like teachers or medical people. But the fields our students graduate in are not necessarily the ones they go into for jobs or careers.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  To add to what Mr. Whiteduck is saying, I think you pointed to the fact that we're such a vast territory. The Cree territory is like that; we're spread out quite extensively. The problem we're faced with is what you're saying--relocating people from one community to another. A year or so ago we opened a training centre that was provided to us by the Ministry of Education in the community of Waswanipi.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for your question, Mr. Lemay. The main difficulty for a student is adjusting to a strange environment that they're not really accustomed to. We keep our children in our communities up to secondary five. Some of them graduate at different ages, maybe at 17 or 18, while others are a little older but we continue to keep them in our school until they graduate.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'd like to just say briefly that I got lost getting over here. I've never been in these buildings before, not even for a tour. In any case, I guess the issue I've been asked to participate in here is in relation to the presentation to be made by Madame Édith Cloutier from the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue on the intervention strategy for teaching, research, among the first nations populations.