Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I can tell you, Mr. Lévesque, that our northern program, which I do not represent, is looking at what can be done in this regard. We can send you information on this, if there is some available.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The movement that we see is not so much moving to fee simple, although I'm not an expert in real estate. It's more a movement to market-based, which is a little bit different. Fee simple is a type of ownership of the land, which is not what we're talking about here. We're talking about market-based approaches to the building of houses.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As I said earlier, we have funding agreements with them for housing. They make the kinds of choices they need to make on to how to manage both the funding and the livability of those houses. Sometimes they will make the decision that no rent needs to be paid because the people have no money.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I won't speak to the matrimonial property issue because there are other places for that discussion to happen. I think a growing number of communities are putting into place those kinds of codes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As I said in my statement, there was $300 million devoted to a housing trust for the north.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, it was administered by the provinces off-reserve.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, and it was then managed by CMHC--

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Regarding these questions, unfortunately, we know the numbers, but the measures around them are all managed by the Department of Finance, so I think you'll get better answers by questioning those officials.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The community can, through a band council resolution, provide long-term leases. I don't think the community, in and of itself.... If it was fee simple land, yes. If it was reserve land, I don't think so. You can sell the reserve land?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Well, it has worked in many communities, and it's within the funding agreement that it's done. As I said before, more than 80% of the communities have those agreements. They decide how the funding is spent. I'm not sure how much more culturally appropriate that money can be, because they make those kinds of decisions.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you, and I agree with you. There is hope. I have that conversation with many chiefs when I go across the country, about those who are really making progress and have real successes, and I ask them to share those stories. There is some of that, and obviously the AFN last week had its forum on housing, where some of these success stories were discussed.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll answer the last one first, and my colleagues around the table will answer as well. Certainly we do. As I actually stated in my notes, in 1996 there was a change in policy with respect to how decisions were made regarding housing in first nations communities. The big switch there was towards giving agreement-type funding to first nations for them to utilize in the way they saw fit.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  To some extent, yes, and more so in the conversations that we have on community planning, because a lot of the new policy work requires that we do housing plans and that kind of planning. So we can bring in new tools as they are developed and as we get to know them. The work of this committee and the work of the Auditor General clearly identify that all the agencies that have some responsibility for housing for first nations work together.