Thank you for that.
I look forward to your report. I think it's an issue that we really have to get our minds wrapped around. We have to certainly have indigenous governments be in charge of programs such as indigenous housing, and not have other governments doing it for them.
My next question is to Michèle Biss on the poverty issue, the poverty reduction act.
As I said, I'm from the north. We have a very high cost of living and the issue of poverty is huge for us. It's really amazing that we, in the north, live in a land that's so rich in resources yet we're facing such extreme poverty.
There are certainly a lot of things that I could point to, but I find the act doesn't talk about the economic side of it. For us, in the north, especially in our small aboriginal communities, we talk about the ability to have a good education and get a good job as our way forward. In our indigenous communities we need economic reconciliation. We can't move forward unless we have that.
Would it be fair to say that there should be a specific focus, I wanted to say for the north, but maybe towards indigenous people? Why do we have 150,000 unemployed indigenous people in western Canada and the north, while there are opportunities, especially for us in the north, for mines and things of that nature? You said it's a distinctive barrier. I think that's the term you used.
Would you maybe just respond to that question? Should there be a focus on certain parts of the country, or on populations even?