The First Ministers' Summit on aboriginal issues has wrapped up with Prime Minister Paul Martin and provincial leaders promising a "detailed plan for action" to improve the lives of aboriginal Canadians.

The two-day conference in Kelowna, B.C. ended with the federal government committing to a 10-year plan that pledges $5.1 billion over the next five years.

The money will go to alleviate poverty and improve the quality of life for aboriginal Canadians.

Martin said the federal government is responsible for the future of aboriginals and he promises Ottawa will live up to that responsibility. The conference, he said, is an unprecedented step forward in giving aboriginals a future.

"Aboriginal Canadians have no desire for more rhetoric," said Martin in his closing address. "They have needs and those needs demand attention. It's as simple as that."

The conference spent the past two days looking for ways to ensure that aboriginals enjoy the same health, education and employment benefits that other Canadians enjoy.

The agreement promises to:

• Close the gap in education -- so by 2016, the high school graduation rate for aboriginal students equals that of other Canadians.
• Improve housing policies -- so aboriginals will have a better chance of owning their own homes, have better access to emergency shelters, and will be better able to maintain existing houses.
• Spend $400 million to provide better water and regulate water quality on reserves.
• Reduce infant mortality rates, youth suicide, childhood obesity and diabetes by 20 per cent in the next five years and 50 per cent in 10 years.
• Double the number of health professionals by 2016.
• Improve training and skills development as part of a wider promise to give Aboriginal Peoples more economic opportunities.
• Establish a First Nations Multilateral Forum to continue regular discussions between Ottawa, the provinces and native groups on aboriginal issues.

"These are big challenges," said First Nations chief Phil Fontaine. "But ... I believe that we can turn the corner and actually eliminate poverty in 10 years."

This was the first ever summit to tackle such a comprehensive range of aboriginal issues with the federal and provincial governments all at the table.

But with the minority Liberal government poised to collapse on a non-confidence motion, there's no guarantee any deal will survive.

Asked if success hinged on Liberal re-election, Fontaine said he's been overwhelmed by the nonpartisan goodwill at the gathering.

"I sense a serious commitment to eliminating poverty... this is a very public process ... the commitments that are made are significant and it's going to be very, very difficult for any government to retreat from these commitments here," he told reporters.

"What will spell the difference here is that we have a plan -- and that's what's important."

Calgary Conservative MP and Tory native affairs critic Jim Prentice indicated that a Tory government would continue to champion the cause of aboriginal peoples.

"I think that the fight against aboriginal poverty is the most pressing social issue that our country faces," Prentice said on CTV's Mike Duffy Live, "and as Conservatives, we believe something has to be done."

He said that the poverty many aboriginals suffer from today is the result of Liberal governments over the past 13 years not properly fulfilling their fiduciary responsibilities.

Health care concerns

While there were broad agreements on improving native housing and education at the conference, one of the central objectives -- improving the abysmal access to health care for First Nations, Inuit and Metis people -- remains elusive as leaders continue to wrangle.

The provinces are responsible for health care services, but Ottawa is in charge of the health and welfare of Canada's native population -- more than half of which live off-reserve.

On Friday, only British Columbia -- which signed a separate deal with Ottawa and three provincial native groups -- put in writing where the federal dollars will flow.

"It's important that in the next few months we resolve the issue of who's responsible for what matters,'' said Fontaine, acknowledging the problems. But he added: "We believe we can achieve that."

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell said past conferences have led to justifiable cynicism among Canadians after lofty rhetoric failed to produce real results.

"Our obligation is to prove those cynics wrong," said Campbell, who travelled the country meeting with premiers and aboriginal leaders to lay the ground work for the summit.

Fontaine said Friday that during this conference, "We have conquered our own cynicism." He said the agreement was not about money, but about creating a plan to turn poverty into prosperity.