Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Minister, my first question has to do with the budget and indigenous housing in rural, urban and northern communities off reserve.
The committee did an extensive study on the national strategy for indigenous people living off reserve. The government launched the strategy but allocated just $300 million over five years in the last budget.
I want to share what the Réseau québécois des OSBL d'habitation had to say. According to the organization, in the recent budget, the government finally announced that it would move forward with an indigenous housing strategy, a much-anticipated measure the government had been promising since 2017, when it launched the national housing strategy. The organization goes on to say that the paltry sum of $300 million over five years is practically a slap in the face given the overwhelming needs of indigenous people living off reserve.
The committee's study illustrates how extensive the needs are. We called for a housing strategy that was created by and for indigenous people.
How do you explain such an insignificant and laughable investment to address current needs?