Status of Women committee  Thank you for asking that question. You mentioned that 30 people attended a session a number of years ago. I think what you need to recognize is that there are 40,000 people right across the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, covering two-thirds of the province of Ontario. I guess my point

Status of Women committee  Are you asking me?

Status of Women committee  Thank you. I think this committee needs to recognize the condition in our communities, the lack of housing, the lack of elders' homes, and the lack of emergency shelters for women and children. I think that's the reality in our communities. I think my question to this committee

Status of Women committee  There have been a number of studies done in the past to try to assess the infrastructure needs of our communities. On housing a number of years ago, I believe the figure was about 20,000 to 25,000 units needed to try to catch up or bridge the gap in terms of the families that hav

Status of Women committee  First of all, it's very disappointing to hear the minister of the Crown, representing the government, make those types of comments. I think what I said, right from the onset when I made my statement, was that we all agree and we all recognize the need to ensure that we protect th

Status of Women committee  It's difficult for me to speak to what's happening in other parts of the country, whether it's Saskatchewan, Manitoba, or Alberta. I think what we're speaking about today, for myself and Jackie, is what's happening here in the NAN territory. What we've said is that if we're goi

Status of Women committee  I haven't read the whole bill. I've read a good chunk of it.

Status of Women committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to appear before this committee on this very important issue. My name's Alvin Fiddler. I'm one of the deputy grand chiefs from Nishnawbe Aski Nation. With me is Jackie Fletcher. Jackie is a member of the NAN Women'

Finance committee  Thank you for your question. I was in Kelowna when that accord was signed and agreed to by all the parties that were there. I think there was a lot of optimism amongst first nation communities and the leadership across the country when that accord was signed, because we felt the

Finance committee  I haven't seen his manifesto or his document. All I'm saying here today is that we need resources now. If you look at our communities and the desperate situation they're in, I don't think we're there yet, to talk about federal legislation or the Indian Act. What we want is immedi

Finance committee  I need more than thirty seconds, but I'll try. I don't know the best way to answer that question. It seems to be the opinion of a lot of people that we get billions and billions of dollars a year, and things are getting worse. For example, with Kashechewan, we wanted a review of

Finance committee  I want to briefly mention the solutions that we think would work. The Kelowna Accord is a beginning. When we signed it last year and all parties agreed to it, we felt it was a good start. I think this government needs to implement that accord, along with other solutions that we t

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to members of this committee for giving me this opportunity to make this presentation here this afternoon. My name is Alvin Fiddler and I'm one of the deputy grand chiefs from the Nishnawbe Aski Nation. I want to begin by telling you a little bit