Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Are you going to be changing your name?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That is a great question. Educating the settlers: your terminology is interesting. When we deal with the premiers, we ask them to change their curricula, for sure, to teach treaties and inherent rights and aboriginal rights. All schools, for example, in Saskatchewan have to teach treaty rights for all of the treaties.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  As the AFN, we support all of the above. We support the chiefs who want to look at equity ownership on some of the major projects. We look at some of the chiefs who look at an aboriginal resource tax. If a pipeline is cutting across Treaty 4 territory, as one was, we look at a Treaty 4 tax.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The AFN is party to that. Seven years ago, the AFN and the Family Child Caring Society jointly made the case to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. When the decision came down on discriminatory funding practices, we knew that's what would happen, because that was the case: discriminatory funding had been in place.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There has to be an option other than the courts. It's as simple as that. There has to be a political option put in place. It's not the courts, because it's costly and time-consuming, and that's not the answer. Where is the dispute resolution mechanism that the crown should be putting forward?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  All I can say is that I totally agree with you. The schools are in deplorable condition. There are health and safety issues that have to be addressed immediately. We are going to continue to call on the crown to do that and to address those things. You're going to lose another generation of children if it's not addressed.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That's a good question regarding the importance of language. One way of measuring, because they're all at different levels.... Studies have shown that out of the 58, only three will survive, Inuktitut, Cree, and Ojibwa. There must be a national revitalization strategy put in place.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  One moment, please. I speak a little bit of French.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's obviously weak. Again, it comes back to capacity in a lot of instances. It's not that it's not an issue, it's just that a lot of times capacity comes into play.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No, not at all. It's something that has to get done, because it is a huge issue, the fundamental right to life. Again, it's a capacity issue. We're getting ready for the environmental meetings coming up, so we're focusing our energy on that. Then the first ministers conference is coming up in July.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  The whole issue is mental health. When you look at holistic health, you think of mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical heath. These are the four quadrants of an individual's being and they all have to be in balance. Mental health is a huge issue, and there are not enough adequate resources.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It's a really deep question. How long do you want me to get into it?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Again, it's wellness, child rearing.... We have different sections from birth: the quadrants again, zero to 25. You have adolescents and teens. It's a whole cycle. Historically we had child rearing practices and ways of raising children. Children are gifts from the Creator. The role of the grandparents was huge and key in raising the family as a unit.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes. I wish I could be briefer, but these are such deep questions, I can't answer in 20 seconds. It's going to take a little longer sometimes. I apologize, Chair.