Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to turn to the deputy minister.
I know you're tasked with a very difficult job, a job that consistently demands that you provide independent evidence to this committee and independent recommendations to better assist our public service.
Oftentimes, in my short time in this place, you have made it very clear that these systems have harmed people and that you have reported those harms. Last month, I asked you about racism when you tabled the racism in the workplace audit directly related to IRCC, and we found that employees of IRCC have submitted to you that they themselves believe that racism exists in the processing of applications.
I'll quote your answer to me when I asked you that question last month. You said:
I'll tell you that the deputy minister has acknowledged that systemic discrimination exists in her organization. In fact, a recent internal audit that was published on their website highlights that employees are raising discriminatory practices in the processing of applications. We found that there really are differential outcomes, but the organization was not analyzing their outcomes in that way. They weren't looking at the results based on race or country.
We did that for them in the audit. We made recommendations for them to better understand that.
Ms. Hogan, do you think that these recommendations will find the earnest reception, change and transformation that are needed to make sure that systemic racism is truly combatted in this country?
I speak to my experiential evidence in this committee. We've seen many Indigenous Services Canada reports that go into decades of unchanging systemic racism.
Do you have confidence that your recommendations are enough to see that the IRCC truly takes seriously the issue of systemic racism when in fact the deputy minister just today didn't even acknowledge it in her statement?