Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Absolutely, and--

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's right.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  From a first nations perspective, we are catching up. So we're looking at doing things that would actually create a stimulus. We've always been looking at ways to stimulate economies on a reserve.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think it's important, since we're talking about the north and economic development, to point out that in the north we have the land claims and the self-government agreements, and all of those self-government agreements make provisions for public finance. But in order for that to actually be effective, given the economies of scale, those communities--as do the communities in the south--really need to pool their borrowing and go to the markets collectively.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yukon would be another, and that's where we've been focusing our attention in the north so far, the Yukon, where those communities have been self-governing for a number of years and see the benefit of pooling with communities in the south and other northern communities.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you very much. By way of answering your question, and also focusing on the north, there are many first nations and aboriginal groups across Canada who can use the First Nations Finance Authority. Some of the focus originally was on property tax because a number of first nations are collecting property tax.