Status of Women committee  I would just like to say that the Government of Canada very much appreciates the work of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and that the $125 million provided to the foundation under the settlement agreement was negotiated by the parties. It wasn't a Government of Canada decision.

Status of Women committee  The Assembly of First Nations was a party to those negotiations for the settlement agreement, which also included the churches, the Inuit representatives, and counsel for the survivors. You'd have to speak with the Assembly of First Nations about why they passed the resolution that you're referring to.

Status of Women committee  Sure, I'd be happy to, and thanks for raising that question. I fully agree that education is extremely important. I mentioned Minister Strahl at the national event had announced his intention to repeal the Indian Act. The intent was that this would lay the foundation for broader reform of education within aboriginal communities, but it would also be a very important part of the common experience payment, which I didn't mention was the next big initiative we'll be facing, and that's with regard to the remainder of the $1.9 billion trust fund under the common experience payment.

Status of Women committee  It was with regard to the renewal. The amount negotiated by the parties was $125 million. That amount was paid, and the Government of Canada continues to meet its obligations through the resolution health support program.

Status of Women committee  It was in 1998.

Status of Women committee  The Healing Foundation was originally created as a result of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples report, Gathering Strength, and Canada's response to that. It provided $350 million to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. Then another $40 million was provided; I forget exactly when.

Status of Women committee  It was originally intended to be a 10-year foundation, and it was extended as a result of the settlement agreement negotiations.

Status of Women committee  We do have a working group called the Community Impacts Working Group, which we set up in the early days of negotiating the settlement agreement. It includes colleagues at the ADM and director general levels from Health Canada and Corrections Canada, and the RCMP has been very active in it.

Status of Women committee  We will continue to implement the Indian residential schools settlement agreement. The deadline for applying for a common experience payment is September 2011, and for the independent assessment process it is September 2012. We will be commencing with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the commemoration initiative.

Status of Women committee  Certainly with regard to reconciliation, I don't believe there's any thinking that it will be done within the 12 years or the five years that we have to implement the settlement agreement. It's laying the groundwork. It was a $4 billion settlement agreement, negotiated, as I mentioned, by the parties.

Status of Women committee  The obligation under the settlement agreement is that the Government of Canada must provide supports to former students of residential schools for emotional and mental health supports. I'll let my colleague speak more about that, if you wish.

Status of Women committee  Thank you for the question. There are five main elements of the settlement agreement, the first one being the common experience payments, which started with a $1.9 billion trust fund to pay to students who apply and are eligible for the experience they had at residential schools.

Status of Women committee  May I add one thing, Madam Chair? With regard to future care under the independent assessment process, the government also provides $15,000 for psychiatric care and $10,000 for counselling, if this is requested. To date, the average payments for those have been about $8,400.

Status of Women committee  I'll take that. Yes, we've reviewed the recommendations and the report by the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development very closely. Again, the settlement agreement was negotiated by the parties to the settlement agreement: the churches, counsel for the churches, Assembly of First Nations, Government of Canada, and counsel for the survivors.

Status of Women committee  The work of the foundation has been extremely helpful and very useful. They've done a great job in what they intended to do and will continue to do over the next couple of years with their healing centres. The Government of Canada will continue to ensure that survivors of residential schools are provided with their health supports under the settlement agreement with the resolution health support program.