I will start by saying, if we have agreements in place, we need to honour our agreements. If we are not honouring our agreements, then we should be held to task for that. That's not okay.

It is more than just the agreements for me. I know that, in the last four years as a Cabinet Minister, we have talked about negotiated contacts quite a bit. Some Ministers said no negotiated contacts is fair, and other Ministers said, as many as possible. We need to be careful with that.

I don't believe in negotiated contacts with private businesses, in all honesty. I believe, though, in negotiated contacts with Indigenous and community governments because I believe in community development. It's not only about the Indigenous governments that have agreements. It is about building the capacity of all Indigenous governments so that they can actually become on the path toward self-government, and it stays in the community. If you support a negotiated contact with an Indigenous government, that money stays within their community. It stays in their region, and they tend to hire their own workers. I have seen exceptions when they didn't have the expertise and they had to go inter-jurisdictional, but they tried to keep as much in their community as possible.

So, again, if we're really taking this truth and reconciliation, about UNDRIP, about self-determination, about self-government, then we need to be willing to open the doors to support our Indigenous governments so that they can succeed as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.