Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ministers, thank you for joining us today. It's a very important topic for me and a very important topic for my constituents. In my previous life, I had the honour of being the housing minister for the Government of the Northwest Territories. I've been looking at the issue of housing for many years. I can tell you that for a long time we've been in a housing crisis.
Minister Fraser, you mentioned that we have a crisis on our hands. That crisis has been there for many years. During the time of the Conservative Party being in power, virtually zero dollars were coming for indigenous housing. Now we have two streams of funding coming to the Northwest Territories: Indigenous Services Canada money and CMHC money. We're still in a crisis, except we're in a crisis with a little bit of light shining through the tunnel. For the first time in our history, we have indigenous housing money coming to the Northwest Territories.
We also have CMHC programs that are being tapped into by our communities. From our smallest communities, such as Nahanni Butte, to our largest centre of Yellowknife, they're accessing the housing accelerator fund and putting up houses through the rapid housing program and homelessness investments. It's very good to see all that investment coming to the Northwest Territories, but of course we have to do more. I would really like to see the two streams of funding continue.
The Auditor General's report that we're talking about today doesn't cover housing in the Northwest Territories' indigenous communities. It only focuses on first nations south of 60. That is very disappointing to me, because information and statistics are very important when it comes to budgeting. I raised it with the Auditor General. I understand that the Auditor General will be reviewing housing in the Northwest Territories and will be looking at the territorial housing agency. It sounds like it will happen later on this year. I look forward to reading her office's findings.
My question to both you, as ministers, is this: Can you discuss how ISC and CMHC, respectively, are working directly with indigenous governments and organizations in the Northwest Territories to address the housing needs of their communities?