Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's a challenge, because all the provinces have moved into strengthening water standards, after Walkerton, Prince Albert, and some of the other systems. So they're all chasing more rigorous inspection and monitoring of water systems. It is very hard to get inspectors and qualifi

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's about a dozen people. It is across the country. I think every region is represented. There are Inuit and Métis people, as well as first nations people. The list is on the Internet. I just don't have it at hand.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  One of the commitments Minister Prentice made, and I'm sure Minister Strahl will continue, is to keep Parliament up to date on progress. I will get back to him on whether we have a formal quarterly update or formal report that we can table with you. You'll be familiar with the m

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I think spreading best practices across the country is true for all the areas we work in—education, child and family services, and so on. I guess the only thing I would say is that in my 20 months in this job I have been struck by the enormous interest in economic development amo

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We have some idea, because we can evaluate the things that are covered by Canadian human rights legislation, to detect our vulnerable points. This kind of question would probably have to do with the amount of funds allocated to our programs, as compared to similar services offere

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Nothing has been announced to date. The federal government is holding discussions with the central agencies and our colleagues regarding the community's proposal. We hope to have either a positive or a negative decision shortly.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  They involve legal advice. Thus, I think not, because we do not usually table notices of legal advice. It is rather difficult, because there are two categories, namely Crown challenges and challenges involving aboriginal governments and institutions. Sometimes, the two get mixed

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In response to your first question, quickly, we will proceed with implementation, with the approval of the communities. Funds will be allocated for the payments. That, I imagine, will be in the main estimates for the next fiscal year. There will be a bill before this committee in

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  If you've been at this committee for a while, you will have seen the food mail program in supplementary estimates every year. One of the quirks of the program is that its base funding is about half of what it needs, and we have simply had to add money by going to Treasury Board a

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thanks, Mr. Bruinooge. This actually goes to Ms. Karetak-Lindell's question. It is largely a coordinating role, although there are some very specific things that flow from the minister's responsibilities as northern affairs minister and from some services that we actually deliv

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I could get back to you on the numbers. We haven't added bodies. We simply refocused the ones that are there now. I have a director general who does nothing but chase northern strategy coordination. So we added a bit of a focal point, but this is not about adding resources so muc

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Not one, to my knowledge, but several legal opinions have been voiced regarding potential challenges.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There are several questions there. I'll try to answer a couple of things. The whole point of the estimates is to report to Parliament on where the money has flowed—through which votes in which departments. The Minister of Health will be presenting estimates that include over $2

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's not unusual that one department would be coordinating an activity and money would come in from another department. We pay into some initiatives and we collect from other initiatives, and those are there. What you're seeing in the supplementary estimates involves some organi