Thank you very much.
Madam Minister, over the next two years, Indigenous Services Canada plans on sunsetting funding streams and cutting spending on programs like Jordan's principle, programs that deal with the harmful legacy of residential schools and support for mental health.
Indigenous Services Canada plans on half a billion dollars of cuts in the next four years. While the department has reassured indigenous communities and leaders that these massive cuts won't affect services, we have never seen in our history, and certainly not in recent history, a proposed cut and the sunsetting of this much money.
We know that the elimination of these critical programs will be devastating for communities that already rely on them, and they need all the support they can get. At a time when the need is so great, why is your government choosing to cut funding rather than invest in first nations?