Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I first want to thank you for raising this issue because I think, again, it goes to Ms. Crowder's point of recognizing that there is an urgency and a consequence when we don't deal appropriately with this. Let's imagine that we are in a family situation where there is abuse, where there is violence.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We have what you might call a working agreement. We do not have a formally signed agreement as to what you're outlining, so I apologize for not explaining that accurately. The reason we have not reached the position where we have actually signed off on a formal agreement is the issue of the definition.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That is correct. We need to have the partnership with the federal government. That is certainly our hope, in terms of what will come out of the discussions around the prevention framework. There is a cultural change that needs to take place on the part of those of us who are non-aboriginal, and this is all part of that process.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Do you mean specifically in the K to 12 sector, or do you mean in terms of training our workers?

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  In British Columbia we have such a broad range of first nations. Many are urban and from other places outside of British Columbia, so it's difficult to have a specific culturally based program of aboriginal culture in all schools across the province. On what has happened in on-reserve schools, or even reserve schools reaching out to non-reserve schools, there are first nations that have assisted in developing curricula around their language, for example.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I will start with the last part first. You can begin to understand some of the challenges with the delegate agency model by just looking at the name. The fact that we would consider having first nations deliver services to their children and families is something we have the inherent authority to delegate; it's something we have to offer.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Let me first acknowledge that.... We have to remember than when non-aboriginal people came to North America, what they found was a people who were proud, who were very strong, who were very self-reliant. These were not a people who were cowed in any way. Our goal has to always be to see them return to that and for them to be the ones leading it.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Not from our perspective, but of course we have to work in agreement with the federal government, and the definition utilized by the federal government is, in our view, somewhat narrow.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It is possible that the debate will ensue, but I can tell you that in British Columbia the child will receive the service.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  One of the most positive examples of success in this regard is the Touchstones of Hope curriculum that we began using in our northern region, and now we are expanding that. It takes a culturally appropriate model of healing involving our workers in understanding what it is that first nations have dealt with in terms of intergenerational trauma.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I first want to just acknowledge what you said about cold comfort. For British Columbians to know that between 53% and 54% of our children in care are aboriginal tells us all that what we're doing is not good enough. That's a shame, and it shouldn't be that way. When it comes to where we are in negotiations, we actually had the opportunity to meet with Minister Duncan yesterday.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There are some variations, and I've mentioned some of the unique attributes of our first nations communities, in particular, the vast array of them, but there is also the relative size. Ours are much smaller, or I should say we have very many that are much smaller, and the average size of them tends to be smaller.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We were in fact the first province in Canada to adopt Jordan's Principle. We do have agreements with the federal government. There is right now, though, a very narrow definition, and I know these things are up for dialogue and discussion as we all grow and learn about them. But it's our feeling that the definition currently utilized is too narrow to really respond to the overall intent of Jordan's Principle.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There certainly have been large investments made over many decades. I think we can all agree that the situation we find when we look at reserves and see the grinding poverty, in many cases—poor housing, poor access to drinking water, and all those kinds of things. We all want to solve those challenges.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  That has been a significant part of our discussions with the federal government. We recognize that in British Columbia, because of the number of first nations, it becomes more challenging. Their relative size becomes more challenging when compared with the agreements the federal government has made with other provinces.