Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, in a number of ways, with the elders advisory committee and when we have any events happening. There was the missing and murdered indigenous women event that happened here, and there were elders available all day long. Often, because they hold the language, that aspect is really critical for us, especially in mental wellness.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Not in my home community, they're not. Within the last 30 years, there has been despairing language loss. I don't speak my father's language. However, there are Ts’msyen who are going to UNBC to study Sm’algyax to become language teachers. In a way, this is really unfortunate, because the best way to learn is in your family and in the community, to be immersed in it, which is the way it was when my mother, an English woman, went to Kitkatla in the 1940s.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If you can get your mind around ancestral law—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I was just saying you're trying to get your mind into ancestral law and cultural protocol. It also connects with 203 communities, and who we connected with was a federally imposed leadership. Sometimes those leaders are also hereditary leaders. On the coast in particular, our hereditary leadership is still very strong.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm from B.C.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Of course resources are an issue, but I'm saying the larger problem we have to face is that, and then those who do assist us, their having that understanding—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I started my presentation by speaking to conditioning, the conditioned mind, and so the first thing we really have to address and that we are addressing is dependency. What you're speaking to is dependency. When we look at oppression, dependency is going to be one of the biggest issues that we have to deal with, and that's what we are....

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, it was a one-time program in Ahousaht and it was funded by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and Vancouver Island Health Authority. They're developing another program for the youth I believe.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Definitely. The contact there is Dave Frank from Ahousaht.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think it's also because we're really just beginning to follow cultural protocol. Once our people understand that's what we're doing at FNHA and hopefully as well our partners, the Ministry of Health, when they understand how we're working, we'll have more co-operation.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The example you gave was about in and out.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I can give you another example. Frank Brown was his name. He's from Bella Bella. It's the Voyage of Rediscovery. Frank Brown is now in his fifties. When he was a teenager, he broke into an elder's home, assaulted the elder and stole. He was identified and confessed he had done it.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I could give you an example of something that worked well. There was a suicide attempt. He was 26, from the Interior, and was in the hospital in emergency in Vancouver and Surrey. I'm not certain who it was; it might have been the aboriginal liaison who contacted his family member from his community.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Right, but that's slowly changing. We have the Interior region, which is now hiring counsellors to work in the community, but largely we're referring to services that already exist.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I don't know, I think it's about 20%?