Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  One of the main features of the reform of 2007 was to create a tribunal with binding powers. We never had that before. If the government lawyers or the first nations lawyers think they have a good case, they'll take their chances at the tribunal or they'll decide to negotiate. Th

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's an assertion of some people. There is over $320 million going out to first nations. We have very little control over what they do with it. They do not even have to spend it on post-secondary allowances for their kids.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If I could just—

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  One that deals directly with students and their families and doesn't go through band councils, but that's a big reform. It would no doubt be very controversial and would take some time, so the government's focus right now is on K to 12, as you heard the minister say.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I'm saying that we have what we have, which is $320 million. I cannot even assure you that it's all going to post-secondary in the communities.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That the Government of Canada has provided $320 million for this purpose.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  You'd have to ask each band council what they do with that fund. That is the problem that was identified in the Auditor General's report of May 2011, which I commend to every member of this committee as the best diagnostic of what's wrong with services to first nations. She calle

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The short answer is that there is no waiting list. Allocation of post-secondary funds is decided by individual chiefs and councils. They decide what to do with the funds. They can fund kids, not fund kids, or reallocate funds to other uses. There is no national program, there's

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  On the answer to that question, what we've tried to do is that we've posted on the website and have distributed quite broadly a guide to scholarships and bursaries that may be available to aboriginal kids. There is money going out for Métis bursaries and, as the minister mentione

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, there is a financial component to the overall devolution agreement that was reached. Perhaps when the devolution bill is in front of you, which won't be too long from now, we can provide further information on the financial aspects of it.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  One of the features of the reform of 2007 is that the Department of Finance has given us a specific settlement allotment. It can only be used for specific claims settlements and awards from the tribunal—no other purpose—and we can fairly flexibly roll it from year to year so we d

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes, it's part of the overall agreement that was tabled in Parliament yesterday. It's the run-up costs to the hand-off next April 1.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  You can't really answer that question until you've gone in and done the compliance work, which we are being prevented from doing by the court decision, so it's a bit of a circular question.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The policy shift is simply to consistently pay provincial rates according to provincial criteria, as to who's eligible and not eligible, something we've been asked to do in education, child and family services, and many, many other areas. We were actually paying more generously i

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  To help, Mr. Chair, we have a profile of every single first nations community on our website that is continually updated, and it includes the social assistance caseload numbers.