Minister, given the urgency and scale of the crisis that we face, there's kind of a wait-and-see attitude. When it comes to addressing wildfire emergencies, implementing a national firefighting force and protecting our watersheds, that is short-sighted.
However, I do want to ask you a question.
Over the past year, the residents of Fort Chipewyan have been raising the alarm. They still do not have a working dock or a way to safely escape the community in the case of a wildfire.
Today the nations of Athabasca Chipewyan, Mikisew and Fort Chipewyan Métis released a really shocking statement, stating that they were shocked to learn that your government concealed the existence of a federally contaminated site around the Transport Canada dock, known locally as the “big dock”.
It's used to hunt and to trap. Local children learn to swim there. It is incredibly shocking and appalling that the information that there was a contaminated site there from 2017 was hidden from this community.
I'm wondering if you can speak to that, and also speak to the fact that they need a way to escape if there's a wildfire.