Senator Carstairs:

Thank you for your presentation this afternoon.

You mentioned in your remarks the importance of the Government of Canada changing its position on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Like you, I think this is an incredibly important step forward. Can you give us any reasons given to you as to why the government refuses to move forward on this declaration?

Ms. Simon: Thank you for that question, Senator Carstairs. I have had a number of meetings with Minister Strahl on the issue. We have engaged with them on why we feel that the Government of Canada should embrace the declaration and vote yes on it. So far, we really do not know why they have not moved forward.

We have read various documentation about the reasons why they are not able to support the declaration. We have had our own legal counsel look at these concerns because if we felt that there were legitimate concerns, we would engage in the dialogue that would resolve these issues.

However, we have not been able to see how the declaration contravenes the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, or how it goes against some of the provisions in the land claims agreements. We have not been able to resolve those issues yet.

We did not want to open up the declaration because it took us 20 years to negotiate that document. I think once we open it, there would a shift to making it weaker than it is already.

Senator Carstairs: You said that you were very pleased with the anniversary celebration and the signature of a national strategy within the year to develop a strategy on Inuit education.

Can you tell the Senate this afternoon how much money has been committed to this? It would be argued that money is not everything, but I would argue that since we spend considerably less to educate an Aboriginal child in this country than we spend to educate a non-Aboriginal child, it is highly significant that money be attached to this.

Ms. Simon: We have committed to an approach whereby we have not asked for a substantial investment at the front end. We put together a national steering committee in which the minister's office is involved. Through this accord, we have given ourselves one year to develop a national strategy so that we can look at Inuit education across the board and build on our successes in education and remove the problems in education. At the same time, we will identify the gaps to understand why educational levels have not allowed students to meet the standards required, in many cases, to go to university.

At the end of the year, we are hoping that the government recognizes the need to invest heavily in our education system. We are trying to develop a concrete plan with the involvement of all parties, including the two territories and the provincial governments. Although Quebec is not on board yet, we are working on it. We have given ourselves a very short period of time to lay out this plan that will be put forward to the federal government for funding. There will need to be heavy investments if we want to revamp our education system. To date, there has been no money.

Senator Carstairs: Thank you.

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