Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Item numbers 8 and 9, I would like to talk about these two together. They refer to debts owed by the Metis Heritage Association and the Metis Nation of the Northwest Territories through accounts of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. They total about $120,000. The first one for the Metis Heritage Association is for $84,000, and to the Metis Nation of $35,000. The reason that I would like to look at these two in combination, Mr. Chairman, is they occur in the same time frame, 1998 to 2001, those fiscal years. The information we have so far suggested that they are largely for related purposes, cultural and language purposes. There is a similarity between some of the previous files I have been asking about and that my colleague, Mr. Menicoche, talked about, and that is the cumulative process that we've had in some files here of continuing to advance, loan or contribute money to organizations even though past accounting has not been there.
Could I start asking on these two whether the Minister could provide, for the record, a little bit more information about the purpose of the contributions for items 8 and 9? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.