Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think that's part of the problem. When we look at statistics, they're very basic and they don't cover all those things, and unfortunately, to my knowledge, there hasn't been a lot of research done on that. I know that child care is probably one of the largest barriers to women, especially when entering the workforce.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, I would need to do that to get the other statistics you're asking for. The numbers I came up with are through the Government of the Northwest Territories Bureau of Statistics. The Nunavut numbers in the brief come from the Nunavut Bureau of Statistics.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I would like to add to that. One of the biggest differences between the northern parts of the provinces and Nunavut specifically is that there is no road access. The largest material needed for houses is wood, and there are no trees in Nunavut. The wood has to be brought in somehow.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm sorry, I don't have those numbers with me. I have them at my office and I could send them in, if you wish.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. As I say, I just don't have them with me. I would have to send them.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Basically, there are two different sources. Statistics Canada publishes labour force numbers. Every province and territory publishes, through their bureaux of statistics, their numbers as well.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much. Absolutely, 360 hours should be a Canadian national number. The Canadian labour movement has been calling for this for many years. And we fully support the Bloc's position on that number. The other part I was trying to get at in the EI benefits area is that we don't have enough indexing in the north.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much. What I was trying to get across was that the statistics the bureau shows are actually the unemployment rate. There are a vast number of residents who fall under what they call “not in the labour force”. What happens is that when someone's unemployed, after a year they fall off the unemployment numbers.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Wrap it up? Okay. I'm just going to say that we've addressed the housing and unemployment, and the other area is the cost of living. One area in the cost of living that we did talk to the finance committee about was increasing the northern residents tax deduction. This is more for the working population in our territories, but because of the high cost of living we pay more in GST, and that's actually being clawed back from what we do gain in the northern residents tax deduction.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. My voice is a little bit rough today, so I appreciate your bearing with me. I'd like to thank you for the opportunity for the Federation of Labour to present our views on aboriginal affairs and northern development. As well, to the committee members, thank you for taking the time to travel to each of the three northern territories to hear from northerners about the concerns that we have.

Finance committee  Yes, I do agree with that. To keep the presentation brief today, the essence of it was to say that currently across Canada the Canadian pension plan is dismally underfunded as far as providing retirement security for all Canadians is concerned. In a northern context, absolutely: if there were a way to index, once the CPP has been doubled, then we could look at indexing for higher cost of living areas of the country.

Finance committee  I don't.

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. On behalf of the 8,500 members of the Northern Territories Federation of Labour, thank you for providing this opportunity to present our recommendations for the 2010 budget. The Northern Territories Federation of Labour comprises many different unions that represent workers in a vast number of occupations in both the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.