Health committee  Yes.

Health committee  I will give you one suggestion. Put it right in front of the law and policy review that is currently before the AFN and the Prime Minister's Office. I think it's one that is going to affect our communities. It should be on the roster of laws and policies that should be reviewed.

Health committee  With respect to the issue of autonomy, I think that for the federal government having Minister Jane Philpott moving over to INAC now is a good move. She and I have worked considerably well together in the last couple of years, and that's why we've seen some off budget cycle inves

Health committee  The dry community piece is there. In many cases, it's there for good reason. If you don't have the proper health care system, proper social programs, or infrastructure, to add alcohol into a community is like adding fuel to a fire. In many cases, as you know, not because of any o

Health committee  That's a jurisdictional grey area. This is why we need to look at the first nations health transformation piece very closely, and it's why we need a bilateral table. This committee should strongly recommend that any preparatory work or capacity front-end loading in terms of getti

Health committee  On our relationship with or impression of the current government, I'll speak specifically to the health file, because this is a multi-faceted issue. Cannabis is legal. It's social—

Health committee  The big picture?

Health committee  Our relationship is at a crossroads right now. We know that the federal government has made substantial commitments. There has been a setting of the table, if you will, but we've not yet experienced the full-meal deal from the federal government. It's really important to recogniz

Health committee  I think the federal government is getting there, but there's more work to be done.

Health committee  Thank you, sir. I'll answer very quickly. We have been doing work. I must say that on one side that's a fair question, and on the other side it's a red herring. You do need resources to actually go deeper into issues and impacts of cannabis. If you lived in one of our northern c

Health committee  Okay. That was my first point. Second, we have the Thunderbird Partnership Foundation. I'll leave the document for the committee. It has already begun to lay out some of the initial discussion points and questions. There are questions here, “8. Key considerations for indigenous

Health committee  I'm going to keep this very straightforward. Again, there is a land tenure/land jurisdiction issue with respect to the Indian Act. That's going to be a very specific study, a very specific exploratory dialogue with first nations, because, as you know, first nations are now develo

Health committee  I'm going to speak from the perspective of the sequence of our assemblies. Our first nations have almost tiered assemblies. For example, we have two major assemblies, and then we have special assemblies of chiefs and annual assemblies. The next major assembly for the AFN is in De

Health committee  Yes. The delineation here, again, is that the Métis community is absorbed by the mainstream. There is no land tenure. There are no treaties. There are no Indian Act issues to address. Much of our problem is the Indian Act. There is going to need to be, for us.... My response will

Health committee  First nations are saying it will be first nations. That's the issue right now. For example, being the Ontario regional chief, I don't have the types of delegated authorities that the province has. I'm merely a spokesperson on issues that I have a mandate to speak from, and that i