Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In regards to the grants of $225,000, I would like to put a motion forth to increase it to the previous funding which was $250,000. In regards to the Metis Nation, as a lot of you may not know, it was established in the 1970s in relation to the Dene Nation and the comprehensive claims process which proceeded from the 1970s to the late 1980s in which the main purpose was to represent Metis people in the Northwest Territories. There is a difference between a treaty Indian and a status Indian and a Metis which myself, I will use as an example. I am presently enrolled in the Gwich'in claim, yet I am associated with the Metis Nation because of my status because I am a Metis and I am not a status Indian. I do not receive benefits as treaty Indian or an Inuit. Yet, I am recognized as an aboriginal person under section 35 of the Canadian Constitution. But, in order for me to receive benefits in relation to health and dental, those benefits as a Metis, presently the Metis Nation carrying out the health benefit program for Metis such as myself, yet I am enrolled in a comprehensive claim. I do not at the present time have the same rights as other Gwich'in members who may be treaty members which they receive benefits as a treaty Indians. But as a Metis we do not receive those. As it sits right now, the Metis Nation presently is carrying out that program for Metis people such as myself to receive dental, medical and also insurance through a program that they have worked on through this government. Also with the settlement or the downfall of the Dene/Metis claims process, a lot of the Metis organizations have taken the initiatives to negotiate claims on their own outside the umbrella of the Metis Nation. The Metis Nation's main role is to preserve their culture and the program delivery on behalf of their membership which at the present date consists of 14 locals up and down the

Mackenzie Valley from Inuvik or Aklavik all the way to Fort Liard over to Fort Smith and also in Yellowknife.

There is also the cultural side of the Metis culture which has presently been preserved through the Metis Cultural Institute which is another arm of the organization. People have to realize that there are Metis people anywhere across Canada that are recognized as aboriginal people in the context of the constitution, section 35, but yet they are still treated differently as other aboriginal people especially in relation to programs and services. My motion will address the question, similar to the motion that passed in relation to the Status of Women and the Native Women's Association to establish the same amount of funding that they have been receiving over the last two years, to increase it by $25,000 to the previous mark $250,000.