I'm happy to work with the member opposite to make sure that her wording drives this agenda. I think that's an important thing to recognize. Her language is in fact driving the operative clauses in this motion.
I would like to add two points. One, the UN rapporteur on housing has asked for this country to respond to a clear need in this area. I think that this motion addresses the call to action from the UN rapporteur on housing. As well, we had a gathering of urban indigenous housing providers in Ottawa just two weeks ago, who also put forth this call for the government to address what is clearly a gap in the national housing strategy, and in fact in indigenous housing policy that is historic in this country.
This is a great motion. I think it sets us in a position to start building on some of the success of the national housing strategy, but clearly it allows us to address what is a long-standing need in this country and a long-standing gap in housing provisions. I think that making this a priority sends a clear signal that this Parliament is serious about solving this crisis.
I will note that in Ontario, the number is 87% of indigenous people who live in urban and rural areas, including in the north of Ontario. In every single major city, we're seeing a significant overrepresentation of indigenous peoples in the point-in-time homeless counts, whether on the street, sleeping rough or in shelters or precarious housing.
Finally, I think the other issue which has to be mentioned is that the inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women clearly lays this challenge at the feet of the federal government to resolve. I don't think we would have had the astonishingly awful numbers and the tragedy, which this country has to wear with shame, if we had had a stronger housing policy in this area. It's an area of clear federal responsibility. Other parts of the housing file may be disputed between different jurisdictional governments, but this one is clearly a federal responsibility, and the Supreme Court Mikisew case has also identified it as such.
I think this is an incredibly important motion. I'm thankful that the member for Winnipeg Centre has contributed to making it an even better motion, and I look forward to getting the study under way as quickly as possible.