Thank you for joining us, Minister.
Sitting here listening to the questions, I can't help but reflect. I've been in first nation advocacy and leadership for 20 years, and I remember a time when all of the issues related to indigenous people were under one minister. Now we have two, and you could add Minister Vandal as a third. I couldn't imagine a time as we progress where the fact that we have two ministers would not, to me, be a great thing and a good thing moving forward in terms of making sure that we have a lot of different people looking at the important issues of indigenous people in Canada.
I also want to thank you for your speech in the House during the debate on how we move forward past the findings out in the Kamloops Indian Residential School, the 215 children's bodies. I thought it was very powerful when you spoke the names. I did some smudging in my house when you were talking about those names, and I really thought that was powerful.
All across the country, we have communities grieving, and we have communities triggered by the findings. In my community, we have a crisis centre, Eskasoni crisis centre, and they've been having a sacred fire outside and helping survivors who need to talk and helping people. It really shows the importance of and reason for continuing to fund mental health.
I want to get a sense from you. Can you speak to the need and some of the supports that we're offering for mental health in first nations communities across Canada?