Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, I believe so.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Most regions are taught in their own dialect from kindergarten to maybe grade 3. Specifically with Nunavik, where it's the northern part of Quebec, they do French, English, and their Inuit dialect.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  To provide an update on the last part of your question, at the AGM in Nain, Nunatsiavut, our board actually discussed the review of the food mail program. It's currently a file that's in our health and environment department, and there are ongoing discussions regarding that. The main lead in regard to that discussion at the board meeting came from Inuvialuit, of which our regional president is Nellie Cournoyea.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Maybe I'll start, and I'll leave it to Gordon to add on. The main recommendation coming out of ITK would be to have consultation with Inuit land claims organizations and Inuit communities. Every year, ITK does what has in the past been called the Arctic tour. I think the name is actually changing.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll just touch base, and I'll leave it open to Gordon to add on as well. In regard to the head start early childhood programs, they are in the north. One of the problems we tend to have in the north is the wait list in a lot of the regions. For instance, in my home town of Nain, Nunatsiavut, I have relatives who have young children, and they want to get them into the day care centre, and they're 45th on a waiting list.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I don't have a lot of background in that particular area, but I can certainly look further into that question for you and get back to you on that specifically.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's another area that I don't work specifically on. I could follow up on that as well. Within our particular department, we do have a national Inuit language committee. One of the items on their work plan is looking at groups like the Maori and how they've managed to sustain their language.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Currently we have approximately 44 staff in the Ottawa region and that's made up of the department of health and environment, my department, the finance department, the communications department, and then executive services. We are stationed in Ottawa. We do not have staff in the regions.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In this regard, where it is specific to education, we happen to deal with the provincial-territorial counterparts. It's in the early stages, as previously mentioned. They've just had one particular meeting so far, but in observing that particular meeting, I think it's a great approach when you're looking at collaborative management, because in numerous cases you have to deal with the territorial, provincial, federal, as well as the land claim organizations.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's no problem. It will be brief. To my knowledge, we haven't provided any type of submission to that particular exercise.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll touch on the first one, and I'll pass the second one over to Gordon. Currently, ITK is working with provinces and territories on education strategy. Recently there was an education accord signed between ITK and federal, provincial, and territorial governments. With the signing of that particular accord, this particular working group has one year to put together a national Inuit education strategy.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  From my understanding—I can also do a follow-up within the organization—when that particular agreement was signed.... The way Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami works is that our board of directors consists of the presidents of the four land claim agreements. At all of our meetings, those presidents are present, and any economic development items or areas of concern are often discussed at that table.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, it hasn't been.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm not 100% sure, as it's not a document that we sent out prior to this particular meeting. We haven't sent out any documentation.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much. Thank you for the opportunity to sit and talk with you today in regard to economic development, specifically with Inuit. As mentioned, my name is Belinda Webb and I'm the director for the social, cultural and economic development department within Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.