Good evening, Minister.
Good evening everyone.
I have a question about a vulnerable population. The COVID-19 virus spreads quickly in environments where vulnerable people live together in many cases. I'd like to paraphrase what Ghislain Picard, the chief of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec–Labrador, said yesterday. He called on all levels of government, including the federal government, to support first nations in light of risk factors that make them the most vulnerable to the pandemic.
As you are well aware, they are a vulnerable population for health reasons, on the one hand, and because of overcrowding, on the other. They have large families, with several generations living together in conditions that the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation described as unsafe and substandard in a 2019 briefing note. Not to mention the fact that a third of the indigenous population does not have access to housing.
I'd like to know, then, whether you consulted first nations regarding their housing needs during the crisis, because they aren't able to house the people in their communities or quarantine those who contract COVID-19. If you did consult them and you did consider their requests to the government, what changes has your department made to help them, given that they are a vulnerable population?