Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That is quite the task, because at a minimum there are five different funding agreements that first nations can participate in, and they're based on financial competency. We have a long way to go before first nations can become independent. To be frank, when I took on this political role to take my people out of poverty, I actually segregated Indian Act funding in my community.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  —and I made it a staff issue, and I actually made it so the staff was accountable to government to make sure that funding agreements were in place.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I then made a separate new council to deal with politics, economic development, and rights and title. It worked wonderfully.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Okay. Go ahead.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, we don't, but our band council with its own revenues is now starting to fund cultural groups, dance groups and language groups. The problem is that our people have no interest in learning our language. The culture that was actually slowly being weakened over the last 50 years is slowly starting to go away now.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, there should be something in place, but to be frank, there's always been something in place to monitor culture and language. What I think is missing is incentive. If you think about a 22-year-old single mom, she has enough on her plate. She can't go to language classes. The proposal I put was complete with incentives.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I don't actually know the details of what you're talking about. I do know you're talking about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission findings and whatnot. When that first came out, I was part of the chief and council of Haisla and I didn't read that fully, because I was living the issues that I just talked about.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's without a doubt. However, I would add a caution in terms of the case law principles, and there are a lot of them. There were two things the judge said. He said we have to reconcile these incidences because—let's face it—none of us are going anywhere. The other thing he said was that the government has a duty to address these issues, but the government also has a duty to the greater society.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's up to the politicians, but it has to be based on the experiences of other independent committees, which might not work so well. I'm an MLA in B.C. and I know that the independent watchdogs set up to keep an eye on the government don't do such a good job. If it is going to be set up, the principles and the lines of authority have to be strong.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I first heard the word “reconciliation” when I read the case law, the Haida court case in 2004, when the judgment came down. It described the government's duty to address infringements on rights and title. The judge who used it said that we had to start addressing these because, let's face it, no one was going anywhere and we also had a duty to the greater society to make this work.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's without a doubt. My parents both went to residential school, but they weren't taken; they were sent by their parents. My mother was sent to learn how to look after a household. My dad was sent because his mother died and there was no one else to look after him. They would not tell me about any of the abuse they faced.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's without a doubt. I'll be a bit prejudiced here. Violent criminal activities that hurt other people, including aboriginals, can't be put in that light. They can't be. I'm taking my experience as chief counsellor. When we had our public meetings, they asked for more police presence in our community—which we couldn't get, by the way.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's not just first nations' success we're talking about that matters. Come to my committee and see the single mom who's off welfare or my friend who stayed out of prison. When you talk about resource development at the first nations stage, you have to remember that revenues and benefits don't all go to the first nations.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'll tell you what I've been saying for the last five years: Do not use reconciliation as a tool to divide Canadians. That is not what aboriginals want. You saw it when churches were being burned down all across Canada recently. There were a number of first nations people, including myself, who went out there and said, “Do not burn down churches.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It doesn't. When I got elected as a counsellor in 2003-2004, my chief counsellor had experiences with these types of organizations. We spent a lot of time trying to understand the relationships among NGOs of this nature, the governments of B.C. and Canada, and their agenda, which was all across B.C. and Canada.