Thank you very much.
I appreciate the testimony from our witnesses today.
I can open up to whoever wants to respond. A few weeks ago, we had AFN National Chief Bellegarde at this committee. He mentioned that right now, having policing services on indigenous communities isn't essential. I think he was referring to a 2019 report by the Council of Canadian Academics, which stated that “Jurisdictional ambiguity between federal, provincial/territorial and Indigenous governments has resulted in the development of a “programming and funding” approach to policing that neglects to treat policing as an essential service on reserves as it is in non-Indigenous communities across Canada.”
My first question is with respect to protecting indigenous communities and enforcing public health measures. From a lesson-learned perspective, what value would a local policing authority have on preventing the spread of COVID-19, if any?