Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Oct. 28th, 2024

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

Thank you for that very important question.

Let me say at the outset that I had an opportunity this summer to meet in Yukon with the communities that are doing the work on missing children. This summer, the department imposed a cap of $500,000 because of the demand that came forward from those who were doing the work. I note that all of the communities are at different stages of seeking answers.

So far, we have invested $323 million in supporting communities through the fund. Right now, as we speak, we continue to approve funding requests even above the million-dollar mark. The deadline for applications is November 15, so we continue to assess the nature of the applications and are making sure that we can best support them.

We will need additional funds, which we are very committed to seeking from the Minister of Finance, in order to ensure that there is funding going forward. However, I can assure the communities doing the work that, from the outset—from the time of Kamloops to now—we have been with the communities every step of the way, and we have continued to support projects that have been working directly with communities that are working on specific projects based in their local communities. In Yukon, I believe all 14 communities are working together on one project, which is one of the issues I talked about, because there are a number of different communities that may have different projects in mind that we can also work with.

Our department has been very open to having discussions with communities and those groups that are working to secure funding, and we will continue to be available. Make no mistake, though; we will ensure that there is funding for communities every step of the way. It's a commitment that Minister Miller made, that I have made and that the Prime Minister has made. We will not leave anyone behind.

[Brendan Hanley, Liberal, Yukon, YT]

Thank you so much for that reassurance.

Minister Hajdu, I have just over a minute, but I want to refer to the study carried out by this committee previously. I was able to sub in for one or two meetings on the non-insured health benefits, NIHB, program. Of course, this is used by Yukoners every day.

After the study by this committee, the government response in April 2023 outlined some progress. It said, for example, “The review of the medical transportation benefit is in progress, and provides a space for the NIHB Program to hear key issues and priorities raised by First Nations partners”.

Particularly with regard to medical travel, because I hear a lot of ongoing concerns, could you update me on what you're hearing and how the government is really going to respond to improvements in the medical travel component of the NIHB?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Certainly, I can't speak to the outcomes yet, because the study is still under way, as you know, with the AFN, but we too have heard concerns about medical travel. As you know, we have worked with territories significantly on medical travel and we have supported the territories—you would know this as a former health official in a territory—with the significant cost burden that families and health care systems have faced for medical travel. This is work that I think is critically important.

To your point, there have been some really great outcomes since your study. One that I'm very excited about—I know we're running out of time, Mr. Chair—is the newfangled modern glucose monitors that are now fully covered for people who are managing their diabetes with insulin. We're matching provincial and territorial coverage. The reason I raise this is that I met some people in my community—health care practitioners, in fact—who talked about the game-changer this is for people's health outcomes. It's lessening the burden on health care systems, including reducing things like the need for medical travel for complex diabetes care, so it's—

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Thank you. I'm sorry. I'm going to have to stop it there.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

It's exciting. That's all I can say.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

We're well over the time.

Thank you very much, Mr. Hanley. That concludes our second round of questioning.

Moving on to the third round, Mr. Shields, you have five minutes.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

With regard to housing, Minister Hajdu, can you tell me how many new housing units have been built?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

I can tell you that we've increased funding by 1,300% since we took office. Right now, we're supporting the construction, renovation and retrofit of over 36,000 homes, and we're co-developing a 10-year housing and infrastructure strategy. This is work that we are continuing through investments for housing and infrastructure through budget 2024.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

I'm just looking for a split on the number of new houses—not the renovations but just the number of new houses.

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

I don't have that number for you, but we'll make sure that your office gets it.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Thank you.

I'll turn my time over to Garnett.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Thank you.

Minister Hajdu, my colleague earlier asked about a case involving the Canadian Health Care Agency. It is a non-indigenous company, very clearly. It was able, nonetheless, to take advantage of contracts that were supposed to go to indigenous companies because it entered into a joint venture. Its partner in the joint venture was a one-person company, and that one person happened to be an employee of the company. It said, “Hey, let's go into joint venture with one of our employees. Therefore, we will call ourselves an indigenous partnership, even though this is a totally non-indigenous company.”

Can we at least agree that this is a clear instance of an abuse of the program? Would you agree that this is an abuse of the program?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

I would say that the quote from Philip Ducharme, vice-president of CCIB, is very important here. He said, “We cannot allow a few bad actors to cause us to move backwards on crucial support mechanisms designed to [help the] indigenous communities.”

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Minister, let me jump in.

I've engaged actively with the CCIB. We've brought them to the government operations committee. I agree that the objective of supporting indigenous economic development.... I agree with their objective.

I want to ask you the question that I asked you already, which is this: Do you think that this particular case is an instance of a bad apple?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

They have been removed from the IBD, and I think that's an important indication—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

That's right, but was this an abuse of the program?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

—of exactly why that list is important and why integrity matters.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Minister, was this an abuse of the program, though? I guess you're saying it was removed, so clearly it was an abuse of the program, in your view, However, you seem unwilling to say “yes”.

Was this an abuse of the program?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

I would say that it was an abuse of being on the list without adequate representation.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Should it pay the money back that it received under the indigenous procurement program?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

In the case of this particular health care agency, two things can be true at one time. The second thing that's true is that we have a nationwide nursing shortage. You may have heard of this, actually. I do get up and talk about it occasionally.

In fact, although this—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Minister, I'm going to jump in because you're going far afield with the question.

What we have here is cultural appropriation leading to financial misappropriation. That is, you have people who are pretending to be indigenous in order to get money that they're not supposed to be accessing. It is precisely this that has led the AFN to say that, in its view, a majority of companies getting these opportunities that are established in the set-aside are shell companies.

Do you see the problem here, and do you agree that your government needs to be accountable for this failure?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

What I see clearly is a plan for Conservative cuts around a program that is actually about indigenous economic development.

However, I will say this—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Minister, could you answer the question?

[Patty Hajdu, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Superior North, ON]

Mr. Chair, could I finish?