Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. My greetings to all the members of the standing committee. Thank you for this opportunity.
We will be making our presentation in French.
I would like to thank the members of the committee for inviting us to present a status report on the situation of the First Nations of Quebec following the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has raised, and continues to raise, major public health issues. Extraordinary measures were put in place. It is important to highlight these collective efforts, but also these results.
We will never stop saying it: First Nations are among the most vulnerable populations, given the risk factors that are prevalent in First Nations populations. For many communities, the preventive measures and preparations required to provide essential services and care have fallen short of what they should have been. The gradual return to what we describe as the “new normal” will be difficult for many of them, and it will be at a different pace than for the Canadian population.
With respect to what we might call the first wave, we recently conducted a new assessment of our relationships with other governments in the context of the pandemic. So this is an assessment...