Canadian Heritage committee  Absolutely. It's clearly stated in clause 9 that we can have those kinds of arrangements or agreements. There are always possibilities to improve bills. As I said at the beginning, this bill is not perfect, and I'm pretty sure we can improve it. Is it, however, something extreme

Canadian Heritage committee  I agree with you. If I could meet with everybody, I would. Of course we know that's not possible. The consultations were broad, serious, responsible and extremely important. The process never stopped. At the moment, we say we're ready to table the bill, but we keep discussing th

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm not sure what you mean by that. This bill includes everybody—

Canadian Heritage committee  —and it will include the Inuit, also.

Canadian Heritage committee  It touches all indigenous people.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm including everybody in this, Mr. Shields, just for you to be comfortable.

Canadian Heritage committee  It's all indigenous people, and I've been very clear since the beginning.

Canadian Heritage committee  I can take it out and read the speech again if you want.

Canadian Heritage committee  Okay.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes. I mean we were sitting together.

Canadian Heritage committee  We have ongoing discussions, because as I said at the beginning, my door is always open and my team is there to discuss with them. If there are things we can accommodate and amend, we'll do it. If we agree on stuff, there are things we can do, either amend the bill or do it throu

Canadian Heritage committee  Absolutely. As I mentioned before, the principles have been adopted together with the various groups. Why? This is the core, the base of the bill. The bill is based on those principles. The bill is based on our response to calls to action 13, 14 and 15. It's based on the fact th

Canadian Heritage committee  That's a very good question. The answer is absolutely, and that is reflected in various things. First of all, while we discuss this bill, there are and will be more discussions with the groups, Indian and Inuit. As they know and as I told them personally when we met a couple of

Canadian Heritage committee  We can do this because there's a will to change things and because there's a will to have a good bill. I think we're starting with a good bill. Is it perfect? No. Can we improve it? Probably. However, it is based on consultations that took place over two years across the country

Canadian Heritage committee  In that case, it would imply negotiation with the provinces, but what is done with the funding will be decided by the indigenous leaders, by the groups, by the different representatives. We are not the ones who are going to decide how you do it.