What I've seen over the last several years of being involved in the water class action is that the federal government has taken the responsibility for access to clean drinking water for indigenous individuals on Indian reserve lands. That assumption of authority and jurisdiction of many, many decades and hundreds of years ago means that it's a situation that the federal government is required to fix. My fellow witnesses and I are here today to address that need to start a solution, and I fully appreciate that this legislation is a beginning.
It has made commitments to ongoing annual reports and an annual investigation on the effectiveness of the legislative. We are going from a starting point of many first nations communities, most of which in Canada do not have access to clean drinking water, to a place where legislation will enable access to some clean drinking water. This will lead us, as Canadians, to a place where indigenous people can turn on the tap and have confidence they will be healthy after they consume or bathe in that water. I recognize and appreciate that this is a starting point, and, optimistically, it's a great place to start.