 In terms of our discussions, we will ask each of the speakers to make a brief opening remarks. I have a few facilitated questions to sort of begin that engagement and with the time remaining, if there is any we will then open the floor for some commentary and questions. And again, noting we are already a few minutes behind schedule. And so with that, we want to introduce this panel. We'll turn to Cookby Judy Wilson to help provide the context for the presentations and the remarks. Please help me welcome Cookby Wilson. Like a quite a request to Cookby Wilson, I want to acknowledge the unceded territories of the Musqueam Squamish and Swalotooth and thank our elder D for the wonderful prayer and the call out for protection of our Mother Earth in the time of great climate crisis and global warming and all the impacts to our water and our wild salmon. So I'm Chief Judy Wilson from the Nisqan Indian Band of the Suqquapna Nation. I've been serving on as the Union BC Indian Chiefs as the Secretary-Treasurer for many years now. And we've always been an active band within the Union in regards to our inherent title and rights and also all of the environmental and social issues, right-based issues within the Union. On the, I wanted to actually acknowledge not just the NDP government, the coalition, the green government, but also our liberal government and also the youth delegates and the intern delegates that are here. I think it's really important to always acknowledge the ones coming forward that are gonna be replacing us in several years because I still remember when I was a young child at the meetings and listening to all the different discussions and all of our Chiefs that have already passed on and some like George Zalman who had always brought a very analytical mind and issues to the table that we would be able to learn from. So I always wanted to say the youth always need to be part of everything that we do because they're gonna be the leaders of tomorrow. So on October 24th, it was an honor to be a witness to the introduction of Bill 41, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People in the Provincial Legislature. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People is a human rights instrument, which in its own words in the article sets out minimum standards necessary for the dignity, the survival and the wellbeing of indigenous people. And I wanna add globally. It was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007 with only four countries opposing it, which as you are well aware included Canada. In 2010, Canada issued a statement of support for the principles of the Declaration. In 2015, Prime Minister Trudeau included implementation of the UN Declaration in each of his ministerial mandate letters. In 2016, a full nine years after the UN Declaration was adopted by the UN General Assembly, Canada announced full support for the Declaration without qualification. But we also know there were some qualifications set out in Minister Carolyn Bennett's statement. We acknowledged the work of indigenous leadership around the world crafting the UN Declaration. It was actually penned by many of our indigenous people in North America and globally and set out to the UN Human Rights Committee redrafted it. But I wanna point out that Article 3 remained unchanged and that's the article on self-determination. So after getting it, I also wanted to recognize many of the people that were involved directly in drafting it and amending it and that included the Grand Chief John from BC, but there are also many lawyers and many of our technicians and across Canada that were involved in that. And as you also recall, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Call Action 43 recognized the UN Declaration as the framework for reconciliation. Of course, in a way, it's a sad that we need to have the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People because I remind everyone that the reason we need it is because in the Universal Human Rights Declaration, we weren't included. We weren't included because we weren't thought of as human beings and neither in the Vienna Convention. But it's part of our society at this time, indigenous people are to be treated equally to other peoples and to enjoy the rights of self-determination and taking care of our children, our lands and our waters. So that's the reason why we have the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. I remind the federal government and the provincial government and anyone that I speak to in regard to these rights issues. We've been fighting for the implementation of indigenous Thailand rights and for the implementation of the UN Declaration for a long, long time. I look across the room and I can see many, many who have been at the forefront of those fights and also for the hard fought battles that we went through the courts and through the streets and through our different government tables. So everywhere we go, our people have always said that the UN Declaration was one of those human rights tools. First Nations across the country and BC have championed the UN Declaration from the very beginning. We acknowledge the incredible work of Romano Sag Nation introducing advancing Bill 262, including traveling all over the country and speaking with indigenous and non-indigenous peoples to raise awareness about the UN Declaration. We were very angered and disappointed that Bill 262 was killed in the Senate earlier this year despite parliamentary tools that could have been employed. We fully intend to hold Prime Minister Trudeau to his very recent election commitment to implement the UN Declaration into federal legislation. Provincially, First Nations and BC have been pushing for a legislative framework for implementation of the UN Declaration for years. The Union BC Indian Chiefs, the Assembly of First Nations and the First Nations Summit working together as First Nations Leadership Council began the work on the commitment document in 2015. The work accelerated over the past two years and I wanted to add that it was the number one commitment in that commitment document that was formulated in 2015 under the Liberal government and we continued that work on with the NDP government and the Greens and with the Premier Horgan himself supporting by the Greens who have the implementation of the UN Declaration as a priority. So basically majority of all the parties agreed that this was a priority. In 2015 the commitment document came on the heels of the Chilcotin decision and I wanted to acknowledge our Chilcotin chiefs that are here today for all of their hard work that they've done in the courtroom and bringing about that Chilcotin decision and articulates that the First Nations Leadership Council in the province remain committed to a government-to-government relationship based on respect, recognition and accommodation of Aboriginal town rates and to the reconciliation of Aboriginal and Crown titles and jurisdiction as we agreed in the new relationship. The commitment document was reviewed by First Nations our chiefs. I wanna thank Cheryl and Regional Chief TG through all the meetings that we went to on the commitment document and the meetings that we presented out to our chiefs who approved through resolution at the Union BC and Chiefs BC, AFN and the First Nations assemblies. The commitment document was also supported by the cabinet. I wanted to thank the cabinet as well and a joint core working group comprised of political technical reps from our different sides and have been tasked out with carrying that work. So it's been quite a bit of work. The first concrete action item is the implementation of the UN Declaration through legislation. So here we are today on the heels of it being passed through the parliament. Over for over a year, the First Nations Leadership Council has been working with the province to jointly develop the legislation. So each of the Union BC and Chiefs, the BC Assembly First Nations and First Nations Summit appointed political representatives which included myself, Regional Chief TG and Cheryl Kazmir. We also have legal and policy support from our organizations. So we worked with the provincial representatives and believe me, we really had to hold all of our feet to the fire to make sure the legislation was achieved for what First Nations wanted. So it was a lot of discussions, a lot of hard candid discussions and a lot of really heartfelt times where we had to really, really think about where are we really going with this and is it going to really be that foundation that our Chiefs and then our proper title holders, our people and the community are looking for. At the same time, we held dialogue and provided regular reports to our Chiefs over respected tables, ensured that all the First Nations in BC had access to consultation draft once it was ready. And this was completely unprecedented. It was the first time I've been involved in that kind of legislation. There was about 11 to 13 federal and provincial legislations we had to deal with, but this was the one that we worked very, very hard to make sure that our Chiefs and our proper title holders had to have their eyes on the paper to look at what it was and have their input to it. So going forward, we're continuing to provide the information upon request and keep the dialogue open and transparent. We have received overwhelming support for this work and the First Nations Leadership Council will continue to take direction from the Chiefs with respect to carrying out the implementation of the commitment document and the legislative framework for implementation of the UN Declaration. As my colleague, Vice President, Chief Don Tom said earlier this morning, this is not a time for stall tactics. I bet you thought I was going to repeat what he said. No, the quote I liked from Don is, it's not a time for stall tactics or partisan politics. And I'm looking forward to continued leadership of the provincial government in this regard. So I just want to thank, and I think we should give a really loud applause for the work that we're all doing in raising our indigenous rights as human rights, not just for BC, but a precedent model across Canada and North America and globally. Please help me in this applaud. Thank you very much for that, Cookby. Just as we turn to the ministers for their comments, we've asked them to do brief comments and then I have a few facilitated questions to lead us into some of the implications of the bill that we as we arrive at this sort of new stage in the relationship. But before I do that, I just want to make a further shout out, so to speak, about the noise around the back of the room and particularly in the entrance way. And so just be conscientious of that and I would perhaps encourage you if you're going to be speaking in the entrance way to step back towards the coffee station or to your right and left, and particularly in the back of the room as you're far from the front of the room, but the volume of your conversation does make it difficult for the people in the middle of the room to follow through the conversation. So I just will sort of make that note and encourage your cooperation on that. So as noted, we'll look to each of the ministers to make a very brief commentary from their perspectives of their responsibilities, beginning with Minister Frazier and then proceeding through the speaking order in that way. Please help me welcome Minister Frazier. Thank you, Harold, for the introduction and thank you, Judy, for your opening remarks. Good morning, everyone. I'd also like to thank Elder D. George for starting us off the right way today. I want to begin by acknowledging we're on the territory of the Musqueam, Slewa Tooth and Squamish Nations and thank them for allowing us to do our important work here this week to say it's an honor to be here. It would be an understatement. There's over, I last heard there's over 1,000 people registered. That's a huge increase. And last year we broke the record for the number of participants here. So this is going to be, this is a very successful event and you can feel the energy. It's pretty positive. I'd like to thank the First Nations Leadership Council for co-hosting this event with us and for all of you for being here. Many of you have traveled from far away and appreciate that. You've been here, you come here to meet and share ideas, to build relationships. This is my third gathering as minister. I crashed a couple before when I was critic but I can say I think we've made real progress on many fronts and we've worked with the indigenous partners to put the UN declaration into action. The example I'm most excited about today is the legislation that we introduced. It was 11 days ago today. Bill 41, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. We developed this legislation, as Judy mentioned, in collaboration with the First Nations Leadership Council acting on behalf under a resolution from chiefs at a number of assemblies. The legislation was goal one, action one of the concrete actions under the commitment document and the work mandated by chiefs in action through the joint core working group acting on behalf of the chiefs under this mandate. The kind of collaboration, this kind of collaboration with indigenous partners on legislation is unprecedented in British Columbia. I believe it's unprecedented in the country. I want to acknowledge the important role of the Leadership Council and their technical team, that's Stacey and Zerza Fox from the First Nations Summit, Merle Alexander from the BC AFN and Mary Ellen Terpell Lafont and Andrea Glickman from the Union to BC Indian Chiefs and so many others. And of course, those that were working within our ministries to make this happen in partnership. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission called for governments to adopt the UN Declaration as a framework for reconciliation. And with those recommendations, those calls to action came out in 2015, had not happened yet. This is exactly what we are doing. It's about human rights. It's about indigenous rights. It's about inherent rights. It's about ending discrimination and ensuring justice and fairness. October 24th was a great day in the legislature. I've been on MLA for almost 15 years. It's the greatest day I've ever spent in the legislature. First Nations leaders shared the floor of the legislature to introduce the historic bill. They reminded us that while we should celebrate this important step that we must not lose sight of how much work we still have to do together. And that is what we are here to talk about today. How we got here, what we have learned, and how we will move forward together. We've made important strides in partnership with indigenous peoples, and we have committed to continuing collaboration and cooperation as we move forward on an action plan. Your leadership is invaluable here. We have done a lot of work together in the past two and a half years to implement the UN Declaration, work to recognize inherent rights, work to strengthen communities, and work to support nations as they increase capacity for self-governance and self-determination. Sharing gaming revenues is a key example of that support. All of this collaborative work, revenue sharing, language revitalization, affordable housing, mental wellness, child welfare. It all helps solidify the foundation of our long-term relationship. So that we can work together from a good place and continue to move forward. Now, we know the work ahead will take time, but we wanna get it right, and we are gonna get started right away. Bill 41 requires government to develop an action plan in partnership and in collaboration with indigenous peoples. We will be talking to you over the next couple of weeks, the coming months, and to find the best path forward for that work together. Through the Joint Corps Working Group, we are starting to explore what that will look like and how that can be done most effectively. Together, we can create and gather ideas on the best way to build the action plan, planning your ideas will be an important part of that. This is a critically important journey that we are on together. Bill 41, as a measured step, it won't change everything overnight, but it lays the foundation for an even stronger and more inclusive British Columbia that will create better opportunities for everyone. Real solutions that make a difference on the ground and in communities. So our work on this together will be a lasting legacy. Introducing the legislation is one step, but it is clearly a step towards a predictable path forward for everyone. It's a historic moment. I was told in the first months of my time as minister after the Premier pointed me, I was told by First Nations in the Interior that my job was to do constructive damage to the status quo. So ladies and gentlemen, let's do that. Thank you very much. Good morning, I'm Carol James, Finance Minister and Deputy Premier, and I want to say how pleased I am to be here as well and to be part of the panel this morning. I also want to recognize that we're on the traditional territory of the Squamish, the Slewa Tooth and Muscovine people, and thank you for the ability to meet on your land as well. I first want to start with my appreciation. My appreciation to all of you in this room, my appreciation to the Leadership Council, my appreciation to First Nations people and Indigenous people across our province, and to elders who came before all of us who have continued this extraordinary work to bring us to the historic introduction of the legislation that occurred two weeks ago. There is no question, as Minister Fraser has said, that successful reconciliation is going to take time, that the challenges are complex and that solutions certainly are going to be multi-generational. But as so many have said already, the work is just getting started. The introduction of the legislation wasn't the end. In fact, it was the beginning. And so I just want to take a couple of minutes to talk about how I see reconciliation from my hat as Finance Minister. Because for me, reconciliation truly is about creating economic opportunities that empower people and lift up entire communities. That means all communities and all people. And we can't have a truly prosperous economy in this province when Indigenous rights, human rights, are not respected. For far too long, as you know, better than anyone, litigation was the only way for Indigenous people to be able to protect their rights. And that's wrong. That approach, as you know and as we know in British Columbia, has created uncertainty, that in fact, if I look at it from a Finance Minister's point of view, hurts people, stalls businesses, and certainly doesn't support a strong economy. If we look at the flip side and look at reconciliation, we will encourage predictability, we'll encourage stability, we'll encourage trust, which is fundamental to a strong economy for everyone. Now as we heard last night, if you were at the reception, many BC businesses and First Nations have already embraced the UN Declaration and already moving ahead on economic opportunities. There are over 500 agreements in this province between Indigenous nations and businesses. I won't run through the examples because I know we're getting short on time, but everything from tourism to fisheries to the agreement with the Vancouver Airport, to Seashell, to the Broughton Archipelago is the premier talked about. All these agreements and many others in fact represent billions of dollars that help build the infrastructure and support communities, Indigenous communities and non-Indigenous communities throughout our province. And my hope is that this is just the beginning. I think the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People's Act is going to create long-term economic opportunities across British Columbia. And as a government, our premier set the stage. As you heard him talk about, I along with every cabinet minister received a mandate letter that lay out our responsibilities. And part of those responsibilities for each and every one of us was to look at how we could implement the UN Declaration in our own ministries. Often when it comes to the UN Declaration, the issue sat with the Minister of Indigenous Relations. Our responsibilities were across government. Every minister was responsible. And so I believe that really set the stage for the introduction of the legislation and the work we have to do ahead. There's been progress in a number of places. You've heard talked about the revenue sharing agreement that was put in place for new annual funding to support First Nations priorities in everything from social services to education, infrastructure to cultural revitalization. I've heard some incredible examples from people about the gaming funds and the opportunities that that will create in communities. And the anchor that gives First Nations communities to be able to look at further economic opportunities because you will have stable funding each and every year to be able to leverage those kinds of partnerships that are so critical. We made as one of our first years of government a $50 million investment to support the work of Indigenous languages. First People's Cultural Council is working hard, I know to create that vital connection that is so critical to identity, to culture. We need to make sure that we continue that work and that we move ahead. As I said, this is simply the beginning. We know that true and lasting reconciliation takes time but we're making progress because we are working together. One of the other hats I wear is to chair the new Cabinet Committee, CCR, if you hear the acronym, another acronym to learn. Cabinet Committee on Reconciliation. This committee was put together across ministries so that we have an opportunity to break down those silos. So we have an opportunity to talk about the challenges that you face in going from jurisdiction to jurisdiction or looking from ministry to ministry. You have ministers, including everyone on this panel who sit on this committee to provide the opportunity for us to talk about how we work together, how we integrate our work, how we best support each other in the work that is happening ahead. So I look forward to our discussion, but most importantly, I look forward to the work that is just starting. I look forward to that new relationship between government to government across this province and the incredible things that can occur for you and your communities. Thank you so much. Good morning. Simgiget, Sigermanic, Gibet-Wiltsuk. My Nisqa name is Lahakwiskak. My name's Melanie Mark. I'm the member for Vancouver Mount Pleasant and the minister of advanced education, skills and training. It's my honor to be here with all of you this morning and just to acknowledge your leadership for everyone in this room who sacrifices time away from your family to lift up your community, to come to the table as briefcase warriors, fighting for rights, recognition and respect. It is a humbling moment because when we talk about what this moment means in our history, what our opening speakers spoke about, the journey to get here, the journey to bring and breathe life into Bill 41, and to all of you that may have been witness who were at the BC legislature that day, 11 days ago. In my world, that's like 40 days. For indigenous people, it's long overdue. So I stand with great pride and a thundering heart. My grandmother, I look to my Nisqa relatives. I look to my Nisqa relatives who paddled down to Victoria for their rights. And when Grand Chief Stuart Phillips talks about whether we have the guts for reconciliation, I can assure you that guts is in my DNA, as a Nisqa woman, as a matriarch, as the granddaughter of Thelma Mark from the Village of Luckles app. So I stand here with all of you extremely proud, extremely proud to serve in cabinet, to have a seat at the table and to have a voice. A voice as a First Nations woman, to be able to fight for our rights at CCR and the BC legislature. If you saw my speech speaking to the bill, I emphasize what I've seen in my life and to acknowledge for all of you to pause for a moment and think about what you've seen in your life. If my ancestors had to paddle down to Victoria to fight for their rights and where we landed 20 years ago as a Nisqa nation, signing our self-government agreement. In three and a half years ago, I became the first First Nations woman to ever hold a seat in the BC legislature. I am so proud of what I've seen in my life because I wasn't born into politics, but in some ways I was. But I was groomed for poverty and I know a thing or two about growing up with a single mom without books in my house, without money, living in the projects of East Vancouver and to share with you what education meant in my life and to be able to share with you my passion and your passion because we're going to have a lot of meetings and I can't wait to meet with the chiefs because the chiefs are coming to the table saying we want training in our communities. We want trades training. Pardon me, Terry, regional chief Terry Teegee talked about forestry. I have an opportunity in my ministry to turn things around and it comes from the relationship when communities say we have all this economic opportunity in our backyard but we're not on the job site. We need the red seals. We need to be working better with the industry training authority. We need to have opportunities on the job site as equal partners. That work is changing. So I'm gonna pause for a moment and say in my life, things are gonna change and I look to the interns that are here. You know, it's amazing. I have a young person working in my office, the minister of advanced education. She was an Aboriginal intern and now she's my executive coordinator. That's amazing. And there are young people all around us because there was a vision by Grand Chief Ed John who said indigenous young people should be working in public service and they are. And they're stepping up as leaders so in my life, I believe that the future is gonna look brighter and I don't have much more time at this podium to share the work that I get to do as minister but I wanna give you a few highlights. Article 14, we're working with Finesc and Ihala to bring forward the first language fluency degree in BC. We're working with UBC and NVIT to bring that call to action to life, to reality. Article 50, that was a call to action for many, many years to introduce the first indigenous law program at UVic but do you know when that journey started? Back in the 90s. So we've got a lot of work to do but I'm so proud of the people that stood fast that are continuing to paddle because we have to get there together. Premier's talked about it, everyone's talking about it. I know it sounds like paddle together is a slogan. We can all paddle in our own canoes. We'll see how far we go. Or we can come together, paddle together for the benefit of our communities to lift up our community so that they have red seals so that they graduate as teachers and they're the leaders in front of the classroom. That's article 62 of the Truth and Reconciliation's Calls to Action but I want to leave you with one of the proudest moments in my political life. When we made it tuition free for former youth in care to go to college and university that was a call to action for Marielle and Trapelophon back in 2013. I spent eight years at the representative's office fighting for the rights of indigenous children in care because they're overrepresented in care and we need to turn things around but by implementing that public policy to fund kids to be able to go to college and university today I can tell you that 1119 young people have walked through the doors of public post-secondary education institutes across this province. So I'm proud to be the descendant of briefcase warriors who have fought long and hard for our rights and I'm so proud that I was able to be in the legislative assembly as the member of Vancouver Mount Pleasant and the minister of advanced education and the descendant of Thelma Mark to support bill 41 and I hope that everyone in the house continues to vote in favor of this historic legislation. Hala, tuxiism. Thank you. I'm Katrina Connery, minister of children and families and note to organizers. Minister Ebi and I were just talking maybe we could put minister Mark at the end of the panel next year. Well done, not only well done. I too would like to acknowledge we're on the traditional territory of the Musqueam Slava Tooth and Squamish Peoples and I want to thank Elder D. George for her opening prayer today and I just want to tell you how honored I am to be here. This is my third year presenting to this group and when I look across, the first year I was here I was scared stiff and hardly knew anybody this year. I know so many more of you and I've had the honor of meeting some of you in your communities and I look forward to meeting more of you in your communities and also to our meetings over the next couple of days. I have to tell you as minister of children and families and it was in my mandate letter from the premier my focus is to work collaboratively and respectfully with First Nations and we have to make a difference for communities and families and we have to give social workers the tools that they need to ensure child welfare is done differently. So this means transforming the child welfare system and it means keeping indigenous children out of care, safe within their families and connected to their communities and we're also keeping in mind the new federal legislation, Bill C92 and the impacts it'll have not only on our work but how we can support the path forward for First Nations here in BC. We have committed to working with all partners to improve the lives of indigenous children and families and in addition, we must ensure that this important work that we are doing in our ministry continues to align with our new recently introduced legislation to put the United Nations declaration into legislation. So Bill 41 that was just introduced 11 days ago, it will make BC the very first province to recognize in law the human rights of indigenous peoples. And I have to tell you, it was an incredibly emotional day. I think for most people that were sitting in the legislature and in the gallery just before Minister Fraser gave his table the bill, he said to me, I think I might get choked up. We sit beside each other, so I went and got some Kleenex for him. Well, he didn't get choked up, I did. I grabbed his Kleenex and was crying. But to listen to our premier, the two opposition leaders and then the indigenous leaders, Grand Chief Ed John, Cheryl Casmer, Chief Terry Teegee and Grand Chief Stuart Phillip, it just filled me with such hope and recognition that we are all on the right track and there is still much more to do and this is an important step, but still much more to do. The legislation will mandate government to bring provincial laws into harmony with the declaration and this process will take some time. The first step will be creating the action plan to be developed in partnership with indigenous peoples. No more consultation, working together in partnership and collaboration that will set out priorities and a timeline. This legislation, it opens new doors for all of us as we walk together or as Melanie likes to say, I don't think it's a slogan, Mel, I think we are all trying to paddle together. In partnership towards jurisdiction, recognizing each nation's inherent authority to care for their children and families in their own way and I look forward to collaborating with you, all of you, as we work together with this historic legislation. In BC, the number of indigenous children in care are starting to go down, but there still is this overrepresentation of indigenous kids and care and it's unacceptable and we're working to change that in the ministry. We've already made important changes in the ministry to that speak to the principles of UNDRIP and support this new legislation. We've amended the Child Family and Community Services Act to give indigenous communities more involvement in child welfare decisions to help keep children and families safely together. And as we are committed to making further changes to this legislation, in collaboration with indigenous communities, to bring it in lines with Bill 41 and C92. Now under the extended family program, we have nearly doubled the rate paid to extended family members caring for children and youth and I've heard from indigenous elders, heard from grannies and aunties, had told me how much this is helping them to ensure that they can keep their children in their communities with them. And as a granny myself, I couldn't imagine not having the opportunity to raise and care for my grandchild if that opportunity came up. We're changing the way we work with expectant parents so that we can support expectant parents to keep newborns and moms together. We've ended the practice of birth alerts which has been so divisive in so many communities across the province. We were also working with individual First Nations and the federal government to sign agreements that will ultimately see the nations exercise their jurisdiction over children and family services. And we look forward to meeting with many more of you to continue those discussions because we know that some nations have told us that they're not quite ready or want to talk about jurisdiction but we do know that we need to continue to work in partnership to have long lasting sustainable change to the child welfare system. Whole communities receive lasting benefits from our work together to support healthy families and children. Like more affordable housing and better supports for Indigenous families to reduce the number of kids in care. We know we need to do better for Indigenous families and their children. And we also know by working in partnership and engaging in dialogue, like the conversations taking place right now, the provincial government is changing the way we work with you. We have to do better to support the needs of your communities, your families, your children in collaboration. And I'm so looking forward to meeting with so many more of you over the next couple of days. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. I'll join in acknowledging the traditional territory of Squamish, Muscovam and Slewa Tooth people and thank them for the opportunity to gather here today. We had an early Christmas miracle at my house this morning that I'd like to share with you. My son was dressed for school and ate breakfast in under 45 minutes, which was a world record. And normally he's about an hour and a half. I have no idea how he does it. And this meant that we got to hang out and have a little bit of fun in the morning, which isn't normal for us. And normally it's like, come on, bud, you can do this. And we were building a pillow fort out of the couch cushions just to really annoy his mom. Not really, it had the incidental effect of annoy his mom that wasn't the purpose. And we're building this pillow fort and it's kind of, one of the pillows is hung up on a blanket in the corner. I'm like, bud, if you want a pillow fort to last, you got to make sure that you have a really strong foundation. So what's a foundation? It's the bottom of the house and make sure that the walls don't fall down. And that is exactly, two years ago at this event is when my ministry started on the work of setting the foundation for something way more important than a pillow fort. For the indigenous justice strategy that's going to guide the province for years and years to come, how we make sure that our justice system is a just system for indigenous people. And the event that took place two years ago is we signed a memorandum of understanding with the First Nations Justice Council. And that memorandum of understanding was to say, we're gonna work together and indigenous people are going to develop an indigenous justice strategy for indigenous people and the government's partnership role in that is that we're gonna work with you to implement it. And to me, that's what the UNDRIP legislation is about. It's about government partnering with indigenous people on solutions to problems that have been going on for a really long time. And we didn't need the UNDRIP legislation to begin that work two years ago and to get to where we are today which is approaching very close to a final indigenous justice strategy which is very exciting. We didn't need that legislation but the legislation is really important because the legislation, the new law means that we're not going to rely on good intentions anymore. Yeah, I have to hope that someone is in government that is gonna hopefully do the right thing because the law says you have to do it. And if all of the parties in the legislature right now are voting for this law that will say that governments have to engage in these partnerships that we have to work together on these things, that is a really significant reform. And it wasn't until I came into government that I understood how important these documents like the indigenous justice strategy are to in particular the public service. So you see a panel of politicians here in front of you and we have an important role. But the day-to-day decisions about what happens in government are made by thousands and thousands of public servants across the system. And what they have to do is look at government policies and government laws and make decisions on little tiny issues, sometimes bigger issues but mostly little tiny issues day-to-day. How do I resolve this problem? How do I deal with what's in front of me on my desk? And with documents like the indigenous justice strategy with documents like the UNDRIP law, they will have the framework to make decisions that are just decisions and they will have the information and the guidance from government that they need to make good decisions. The best speech is a short speech so I'm gonna not speak any longer but I would like to take a second to recognize we have a number of interns in the ministry of attorney general and I met a couple of them last night and that's Chelsea and Chesa and I see them back there at table 47. These young women are very inspirational. They're going to law school. One plans to go to UVic to the indigenous law program at UVic went to UBC. Both are working right now in our justice system as interns learning as much as they can before they go off to law school. And these young women and many young people like them both indigenous and non-indigenous are committed to a better future for our province and that framework is the structure of the UNDRIP law and the indigenous justice strategy in the legal system and I'm thrilled that they're here. They're gonna be joining in some of the meetings with us as you're sitting down with my ministry today for those of you who are meeting with us and also sitting in on the plenary sessions if you see them around if you see an indigenous internship program participant here today if you would do me a favor and introduce yourself I've been an intern at big events like this they can be a little intimidating you see people you kind of recognize you know that they're a big deal in various ways if you could introduce yourself and offer to answer any questions to support them it means a great deal that's why they're here so thank you very much for having us here today I look forward to hearing your questions and I look forward to working with you together on a really strong foundation as we continue to build a better province, thank you. And maybe just building on minister Ebi's comment could I get the interns and the youth delegation to please stand those of you in the room the youth delegation and the interns thank you very much for doing that so as the ministers asked let's make a point of reaching out to them because if history is any judge they'll soon be sitting here we are already at 10.18 which is two minutes before the transition to the break and so I do apologize that we will not have time for Q and A on this session nor even the excellent facilitated questions which have been provided to me to ask but I do wanna just note that really just to reflect and to thank the ministers for sharing their understanding, their recognition, their pride and their emotion at the moment that we arrive in with the introduction of this particular legislation but also in the way they spoke to the unique perspective they each have to bring from their ministerial responsibilities but also their recognition that that is they're not separate, that they are connected that they do need to paddle together and also that they recognize that this is not just something they accomplished simply because it was in their mandate letters but that they accomplished it because it is the consistent and longstanding advocacy and the work you have all done to create so much positive change and so many historic firsts in our lives as indigenous people and in our relationship with our BC government partner and in that spirit I'll ask you to join with me and thanking the panel.