Well, yes, through election, yes. For the last eight years, the local education authority has been put in by acclamation. In other words, the first batch is out of office, a new batch comes in, but there is never enough to determine, or allow the communities to have an election. But, that is not my point. My point is that the majority of the Members here are aboriginal people who do have aboriginal aspirations. One of my main priorities, as a Member, is that I dream of one day controlling my own destiny, my own culture, my own music, my own stories, my own aboriginal programs.
That is not happening. We are still allowing, under the Education Act, the creation of boards governed by the Education Act to determine what is best for the communities, never allowing the communities the opportunity to take on programs that are primarily their responsibility. This is not a question of boards determining that, it is a question of whether or not the will of this House is there to allow something like this to happen.
We can use local education authorities as a scapegoat to determine that, but we still have not addressed the issue of whether or not, Mr. Minister, you find that having other people teach your culture is good for you. Well, it is not good enough for me. I cannot allow that to happen. So, as aboriginal people in this House, we should be able to say that the responsibility of the education of cultural programs, whether it is music, stories, songs or whatever the case may be, should be the responsibility of the communities, not the local education authorities.
They are the ones that should decide whether or not they will delegate it to the local education authorities to determine. The way it is now, I do not think the local education authorities will ever allow the communities to take on those programs. I have not seen it happen in my lifetime as a Member.